Alumni Paul Robinson ’83, Douglas Davis ‘98, Julian Petty ’06, and Adam Zia ’04 were named to Billboard’s 2018 Top Music Lawyers list.
PAUL ROBINSON, 60
Executive vp/general counsel, Warner Music Group; Fordham University School of LawRobinson, along with WMG CFO Eric Levin, led a team of over 50 executives companywide to pay out $126 million in royalties from the funds that WMG received from the sale of its Spotify shares after the streaming service went public in April. “We sold all of our shares between April 2 and June 30, and we wanted to be in a position to account to artists on essentially $500 million of equity proceeds on the June 30 royalty statements,” he says. He also emphasizes “the amount of people in our company involved in this — and doing it accurately — in such a short period of time. It was a team effort.”
…DOUG DAVIS, 46
Founder/owner; The Davis Firm; Fordham University School of Law
In addition to brokering agreements for clients Rani Hancock, who became president of Sire Records, and Ron Perry, who was named chairman/CEO of Sony Music, Davis made some notable additions to his roster this past year. Among them were Mike WiLL Made-It, DJ Snake and songwriter Savan Kotecha. But the opportunity to represent Barry Manilow, an artist Davis has known since childhood through his legendary father, Clive, had special resonance. “That has been incredibly rewarding,” he says.
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JULIAN PETTY, 41
Partner/head of entertainment; Nixon Peabody; Fordham University School of LawPetty negotiated a one-album license agreement between Childish Gambino and RCA that’s rumored to be a multimillion-dollar deal; the partnership has already yielded the Hot 100 chart-topper “This Is America.” Petty’s first big break, working with the estate of late Bronx rapper Big Pun, laid the foundation for his later dealmaking success. “Big Pun’s widow, Liza Rios, hired me fresh out of law school,” he recalls, “to help with legal matters concerning his music and merchandising rights.”
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ADAM ZIA, 39
Founder, The Zia Firm; Fordham University School of LawZia’s client French Montana, with whom he has worked for the past nine years, achieved professional, philanthropic and personal peaks in the past year: “Unforgettable” became the artist’s first chart-topper on the Hot Rap Songs tally, while Montana gave $100,000 to the Ugandan Mama Hope charity — and was sworn in as a U.S. citizen. Zia also represents ASCAP songwriter of the year Starrah (Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You,” Camila Cabello’s “Havana”) and rapper-producer Rich the Kid, who signed a multimillion-dollar publishing deal with Pulse Music Group. “One reason I started my own practice was to educate artists on the business,” says Zia. “I pride myself on working with clients to educate them on the deals they sign and where their royalties are coming from, especially now with digital music [creating]so many different revenue streams.”
