By LABJ Staff Reporter
Monday, October 11, 2010
SKIP MILLER, 63
Firm: Miller Barondess LLP
Law School: UCLA
Selected Clients: Los Angeles County, Lions Gate, East West Bank, SunCal Cos., KB Home, Don Felder of the Eagles, Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses, Steven Tyler.
Years in Practice: 38
Best Career Moment: In 2006, when I started Miller Barondess LLP with my two sons and daughter-in-law by my side, after the departure from my prior law firm where I had spent 30-plus years.
Worst: Departing from my old firm.
Highlight From Past Year: I’ve litigated a lot of entertainment cases, in addition to many real estate, government and other business cases. We are currently representing Axl Rose in a dispute with Irving Azoff, CEO of Frontline Management. I also recently helped Mötley Crüe regroup after a dispute with management; represented the estate of Tupac Shakur on behalf of Tupac’s mother; and represented Steven Tyler in a matter involving his band, Aerosmith. Recently we were retained by the Coliseum Commission after the death of a 15-year-old girl at the Electric Daisy Carnival to help make future electronic music events safer.
Longest Workday: I get a good night’s sleep every night. We also have a team of top-notch lawyers who help carry the workload.
How My Practice Is Changing: We’ve seen major fallout from the credit crisis, and a good amount of our cases have resulted from the economic downturn. We are representing the debtors/trustee against Lehman in 20 real estate projects involving $2 billion in mortgage liens and several hundreds of millions of dollars in creditors. We are also suing two major automobile manufacturers for pulling financing from their dealers and thereby causing the demise of multistore auto dealerships. Some of these cases also have big upsides and premiums for us, which I obviously like.
If I Weren’t an Attorney: I can’t imagine doing anything else. I am not big enough to be a basketball or football player. Maybe a race car driver; that sounds like fun.
My Colleagues Don’t Know: I’ve been married for over 41 years to my high school sweetheart, Sherry.