- U.S. & Americas
- Lateral moves
- Los Angeles
- M&A
Davis Polk has hired Glen Mastroberte, the former head of Skadden's global media and entertainment practice, as a mergers and acquisitions partner in Los Angeles, the firm announced on 7 October, according to Business Wire. He also led Skadden's LA Corporate group. Chair Neil Barr said the hire "meaningfully strengthens our LA platform with elite transactional experience," Bloomberg Law reported.
Davis Polk opened its first Southern California office in May 2026 with Skadden's LA head
The move follows a pattern Davis Polk began six months earlier. The firm opened its Los Angeles office, its first Southern California base, in May 2026 around Jason Russell, the head of Skadden's LA office and a member of its policy committee. Russell's clients include the NBA, Christie's and MGA Entertainment (Bloomberg Law). Mastroberte now reunites with Russell, bringing the office to seven lawyers.
Davis Polk has said the LA base can hold up to 50 more lawyers, with permanent Century City space due in 2027. It has also launched a restructuring practice there with the Sidley pairing of Jifree Cader and Mark Knight (The Global Legal Post). The office added finance partner Robert Morison from White & Case in August 2026 (Bloomberg Law). Davis Polk has drawn both the LA office head Jason Russell and the LA Corporate group head Glen Mastroberte from Skadden.
Mastroberte's Skadden deals included Taylor Swift's masters and Reliance's $8.5bn venture
Mastroberte's practice covers film, television, music, sports, video gaming and beauty. He is Chambers-ranked and listed in The Hollywood Reporter's "Power Lawyers" and Billboard's "Top Music Lawyers" (Business Wire). His Skadden deals included Rhode Skin's $1bn sale to e.l.f. Beauty, Shamrock Capital's purchase of Taylor Swift's masters and Reliance Industries' $8.5bn Viacom18-Star India venture. His clients included Netflix, Ares Capital and the NHL (Bloomberg Law).
That mix follows where money is moving. AlixPartners projects global media and entertainment M&A deal value above $80bn in 2026, driven by mega-deals even as overall volume remains below prior peaks (AlixPartners). Netflix agreed to buy Warner Bros' film and television studios, HBO and HBO Max for $82.7bn (Grant Thornton); Electronic Arts was taken private for $55bn by PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners; KKR bought sports platform Arctos Partners for $1.4bn in February 2026 as a $10bn Lakers sale set a benchmark; and private capital moved into music catalogs, with Primary Wave buying the Britney Spears catalog for about $200m and Bain Capital and Warner Music launching a $1.2bn joint acquisition vehicle (AlixPartners). Partners who combine M&A work with entertainment-sector knowledge are finding more of this work, not less.
Weil, Brown Rudnick and Baker McKenzie built out Los Angeles ahead of Davis Polk
Davis Polk is the latest national firm to expand in LA instead of covering the market from New York. Weil, Gotshal & Manges opened LA and San Francisco offices in July 2024 with private equity partners Tana Ryan and Navneet Rekhi from Latham & Watkins (The Global Legal Post). Brown Rudnick launched in LA in April 2025 with a four-partner team from Stubbs Alderton & Markiles. Baker McKenzie's Century City office grew from 33 to 48 lawyers by May 2025, largely through a 17-lawyer transaction team from Munger, Tolles & Olson (Los Angeles Business Journal).
Davis Polk and Skadden both ranked among the top ten M&A advisers through the third quarter of 2026
The hire brings together two firms competing for the same work. Davis Polk and Skadden both ranked among Big Law's top ten M&A advisers through the third quarter of 2026. Davis Polk advised on $334bn of deals, compared with Skadden's $290bn (Bloomberg Law). Davis Polk posted Big Law's highest year-over-year growth in 2025, with revenue up 26% to $3.2bn, while Skadden crossed $4bn.
The hire also follows a sustained M&A recruiting effort. Davis Polk hired William Curtin, Hogan Lovells' global head of M&A for three decades, into its Washington practice on 25 June 2026, days before the Hogan Lovells-Cadwalader merger closed. In recent years, the firm has also added Lee Parnes from Sullivan & Cromwell, Paul Scrivano from Ropes & Gray, Michael Diz from Debevoise and James Dougherty from Jones Day (Bloomberg Law).
Within six months, Davis Polk has built an LA bench led by former Skadden partners. It is expanding transactional capacity in a city where national firms are doing the same, with a focus on the media, entertainment and sports deal market that AlixPartners expects to clear $80bn this year.
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