Biography of Keith E. Cooper, Esq.

Keith E. Cooper, Esq.

Keith E. Cooper is an attorney based in Los Angeles. Mr. Cooper's practice includes entertainment law, copyright, trademark, internet law, and formation of business entities. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California Law School, one of the nation’s top law schools and is licensed to practice in all courts of the State of California, the District of Columbia, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

While a law student, Mr. Cooper was awarded First Prize in the ASCAP Nathan Burkan Writing Competition in Copyright Law for an article he wrote on the federal Architectural Copyright Act. He has been an editorial board member of Los Angeles Lawyer magazine, has been a judge for the National Entertainment Law Moot Court, and is a sought-after speaker on business issues and intellectual property protection. He is the author of The Entrepreneur's Guide to Achieving Amazing Success, a book on marketing and success in business published in 2008. Recently, Mr. Cooper wrote and was the featured lecturer in Cekent Concepts' video/book DVD seminar series, "What Every Filmmaker Needs to Know About the Law."

Before opening his own practice, Mr. Cooper worked in the Intellectual Property department of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation and at Barab, Kline & Coate, LLP, a former boutique entertainment law firm in Beverly Hills, where he represented many of the major independent motion picture production companies, including Millennium Films, Nu Image, Franchise Films, Phoenician Films, Ministry of Film, GeneraXion Entertainment, Filmtown Entertainment, AMCO Entertainment, Moonstone Entertainment, Fries Entertainment, and many others. Mr. Cooper has been a certified mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Courts, California Lawyers for the Arts, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Services, Inc. (where he served on the Board of Directors).

As an attorney, he has drawn on his theater, film, and music education and experience to advise clients on more than 50 films and television programs distributed by such companies as Paramount Pictures, Miramax, HBO, Showtime, Twentieth Century Fox, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, MTV, and others.

For more detailed information about Keith E. Cooper's entertainment law practice, visit ProductionCounsel.com.

Before he became an attorney, Mr. Cooper worked extensively in the entertainment business. In addition to his work in entertainment, Mr. Cooper has worked as production manager for the design division of the nation’s largest merchandising company, and worked as a financial officer at a major New York bank.

Mr. Cooper graduated from the prestigious University of Missouri School of Journalism and worked as a radio, television, and print journalist early in his career. While at the University of Missouri, he also earned a separate undergraduate degree in technical theater and acting in the College of Arts and Sciences, won several awards, and was inducted into the Purple Mask Dramatics Honorary Society. He was also contest coordinator for UMC’s nationwide Short Playwriting Contest, and produced productions of the winning plays.

Later, as station manager of WBAU-FM in New York, Mr. Cooper drew on his journalism background to create one of the first all-information stations. After earning a Master’s degree in Theater (with a Directing emphasis) from Adelphi University, Mr. Cooper worked in the New York theater for several years as an actor, dancer, singer, and director, studied composition at The Juilliard School and filmmaking at New York University.