James H. Ellis

Partner

James has more than thirty years of legal, transactional, and operational experience across the corporate, real estate, finance, sports, entertainment, and technology industries.

Early Career. Before law school, James worked as a Project Manager at Zeckendorf Company (1985–1987), supervising development, construction, financing, and marketing of commercial and residential real estate projects in New York City. He then served as a Vice President of Sonnenblick-Goldman (1987–1992), a New York-based real estate investment banking firm, where he initiated and placed approximately $1 billion of real estate debt and equity transactions throughout the western United States.

Private Practice. James began his legal career at Munger, Tolles & Olson (1995–1999), where he worked on sophisticated real estate, aerospace, sports, entertainment, and corporate matters. He left private practice in 1999 to take in-house and executive roles, and re-entered private practice in 2013 as a senior transactional partner at Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP. There, he advised clients on motion picture debt and equity financings (from $5 million independent films to over $200 million studio productions), entertainment transactions, publishing and IP rights, talent agreements, real estate, private equity, mezzanine debt, M&A, specialty industry lending, technology, and fine art transactions.

In-House and Operating Roles. From 1999 to 2012, James held a series of senior in-house and executive roles, serving as General Counsel and/or most senior executive for a family of operating entities and investment vehicles spanning film, television, talent management, publishing, video games, music, professional sports, private equity, public securities, angel and technology investing, and real estate. He served as General Counsel and Chairman of a feature film production company; General Counsel and EVP of Finance and Administration of a related television production company; General Counsel, EVP, and Executive Committee Member of a major talent management company; and Managing Director of two affiliated venture investment vehicles, where he negotiated and closed dozens of equity and convertible debt investments in start-up and technology companies across Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and New York.

International Media and Content. From 2017 to the present, James has served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for a family of motion picture production and distribution businesses with operations in the United States, Cayman Islands, Europe, and China. He led the windup of operations for a motion picture distributor — including a multi-year bankruptcy process, asset sale, plan confirmation, and the defense and settlement of preference and fraudulent conveyance litigation — and has acted as lead counsel for a global film sales and finance company and its affiliates, structuring and managing dozens of domestic and international entertainment financings, joint ventures, and distribution arrangements.

Current Practice. James’s current practice spans real estate, private credit and fund formation, senior housing, loan workouts and restructuring, secured creditor remedies, complex commercial leasing, intercompany and joint venture arrangements, specialty industry lending, fine art, and entertainment transactional matters — including production legal services for feature film and streaming-series projects. Recent representative work includes amendments to investment management agreements for private credit funds, partner-level review of offering documents for senior housing debt funds, secured-creditor enforcement strategy involving distribution-agreement collateral, asset purchase agreements and forbearance structures for senior living facilities, mezzanine debt restructuring on a multi-property Manhattan apartment portfolio, library transaction representation, trademark and brand-IP work for globally recognized entertainment IP portfolios, and a range of producer-side and financier-side entertainment matters. He continues to represent high net worth individuals on a wide variety of transactional and investment matters.

Education and Credentials. James received his A.B. in Philosophy, cum laude, from Harvard College in 1985, and his J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1995, where he graduated second in a class of more than three hundred. Member of the State Bar of California.

Kirsten S. Ellis

Partner

Kirsten is a transactional attorney and licensed California real estate broker with over thirty years of experience in real property, land use, commercial finance, and corporate matters.

Private Practice. Kirsten began her career at Pircher, Nichols & Meeks, then moved to Paul, Hastings LLP as an associate in the firm’s Real Estate and Land Use Department, working on a wide range of transactions including land use, development, finance, leasing, joint ventures, acquisitions, and sales. Her clients included regional and national developers, Fortune 100 companies, Hollywood studios, and institutional lenders. In 1995, Kirsten joined Stern Neubauer Greenwald and Pauly (now Shoreline, a Law Corporation), where she served as primary outside counsel for an NYSE-traded healthcare REIT and represented national homebuilders and financial services companies.

In-House. In 2003, Kirsten became lead in-house counsel for a Los Angeles-based family office with extensive real estate holdings and corporate investments. She negotiated, documented, and closed real estate transactions across asset classes — land, residential, retail, commercial, and hotel — and structured equity investments in joint ventures and other projects. She also supervised litigation, including the successful defense of HOA, construction defect, and premises liability claims.

Private Lending Fund. In 2009, Kirsten was part of the executive team that launched a Southern California-based private lending fund and its affiliated management company. As General Counsel, she was responsible for hundreds of commercial loan transactions — primarily construction loans, bridge loans, and lines of credit — as well as licensing and compliance, private offerings, joint ventures, loan participations, workouts, and loan sales. She closed over $1 billion in commercial loan transactions, with annual volume exceeding $200 million.

Senior Housing. Since 2017, Kirsten has been one of Southern California’s leading attorneys in the senior housing investment sector, structuring joint ventures, equity investments, acquisitions, dispositions, and financings on assisted living, senior housing, and memory care projects across the United States.

Education and Credentials. Kirsten earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1989 and her A.B. in History, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1985. Member of the State Bar of California; licensed Broker, California Department of Real Estate.