Marc Simon is an experienced entertainment attorney who represents film and television companies, financiers, producers, directors, writers and talent, in addition to representing clients in the digital and new media spaces. He has served as production counsel on numerous films, handled complex negotiating and transactional matters on behalf of his diverse clientele, and has functioned as a producer’s sales representative. Mr. Simon advises clients on financing, copyright clearance (including fair use matters), intellectual property acquisitions, start-up ventures, all above-the-line agreements, co-production and distribution agreements. He also has experience in all areas of commercial litigation, including securities, employment, real property and entertainment matters. Recent notable projects include handling the financing, production and/or distribution negotiations for the Best Picture Academy Award nominees Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right, as well as all distribution matters for Werner Herzog's Caves of Forgotten Dreams and Into The Abyss, and all matters for Robot and Frank, First Position and Side By Side.  His practice is uniquely informed by his personal involvement in the entertainment industry.  Mr. Simon developed, wrote and produced the award-winning feature-length documentary film After Innocence, which profiles the courageous stories of the exonerated, innocent men, wrongfully-convicted, who are now fighting to succeed in society after DNA evidence cleared them of crimes for which they spent decades in prison. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was a semi-finalist for the Best Feature Documentary at the 78th Academy Awards. Mr. Simon also directed and produced the feature documentaries Nursery University which was released in Spring of 2009, and Unraveled which is critically acclaimed and currently being released across the country and internationally.

Mr. Simon is a frequent lecturer and has spoken before the New York City and county Bar Associations, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Tufts University, Lafayette University, the William and Mary School of Law, New York University and Kean University, among many others.

EMPLOYMENT

• Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, Partner, New York, NY  (2009-Present)
• Dreier LLP, New York, NY  (2003-2008)
• Loeb & Loeb LLP, New York,  NY (2001-2003)

BAR ADMISSIONS

New York (2001), New Jersey (2001)

EDUCATION

• University of Pennsylvania, 1996 Philadelphia, PA B.A. in Diplomatic History (magna cum laude)
• Yeshiva University - Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2001 New York, NY J.D. (magna cum laude) Member of the Order of the Coif, Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, Member

PUBLICATIONS

• “Vertical Integration and Self-Dealing in the Television Industry Should Profit Participants be Owed a Fiduciary Duty?”