Freedman Taitelman + Cooley, LLP Partner Brian Elliot Turnauer is an experienced civil litigator whose practice focuses on entertainment, sports, employment, and commercial litigation. His twenty-three years of litigation and trial experience extends to both State and Federal Courts, and he has arbitrated before numerous arbitration tribunals including the California Labor Commissioner, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the International Television and Film Alliance (IFTA) and various entertainment guilds.

Brian’s entertainment practice includes the representation of talent agencies, personal managers, actors, musicians (DJs, song-writers, composers), social media and cultural influencers, motion picture and television producers, and film financing companies.  His sports practice includes the representation of professional athletes in areas concerning privacy rights, contract disputes and endorsements.  Brian’s internet practice focuses on privacy issues, SEO practices, internet security, and the policing and removal of defamatory and disparaging statements published online through various social media outlets. Brian’s employment practice focuses on C-Suite executive transition, sexual harassment, discrimination and wage and hour claims, while his commercial litigation practice includes the representation of corporate and individual clients in a wide variety of civil claims including trade secret and partner disputes. 

Brian works closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes, Celebrity Protection and Cyber-Crime division and handles all aspects of celebrity crisis management, privacy and protection.  Representative clients include pro athletes Terence Crawford, Floyd Mayweather, Mikey Garcia, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez, Chris Algieri, Shaun White, Kyle Kuzma, Ryan Miller; musicians Alanis Morissette, Thomas Wesley Pentz aka “DIPLO;” social media influencers Logan Paul, Rich Campbell, Zach Hsieh “ZHC;” talent and sports agencies UTA, Klutch Sports, ICM, Rize Management; talent managers Night Media, Primary Wave, The Collective; actresses Julia Roberts, Octavia Spencer, Bella Thorne, Aubrey Plaza, Taryn Manning, Emmy Rossum; television and film makers Chris Nolan, Brad Fuller, Taika Waititi, Jason Shuman, Kings Road Entertainment and Annapura Pictures.

Brian is admitted to practice before all courts in California.  He is a member of the American, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Association. He is also a member of the Entertainment and Intellectual Property Committees of the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Associations.  Brian is certified as a player agent by the National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA) and has held boxing manager licenses issued by the California, Arizona and Texas Athletic Commissions. 

Brian graduated cum laude from Drexel University in 1994 where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Corporate Communications. He received his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in 1999.  While in law school, Brian was a member of the Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas and participated in the prestigious Tulane Mardi Gras National Sports Law Invitational Moot Court Competition.  During his time at Southwestern, Brian co-authored the report “U.S. Arms Trade With Turkey Violates Domestic and International Law – Contributing to the Genocide of the Kurds” which was published and presented to the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission in 1998. Brian was a contributing writer to the entertainment law treatise entitled, “Entertainment Law: Legal Concepts and Business Practices,” Second Edition (West Group, 1998) R.C. Lind, P. Acton, T. Selz and M. Simensky.  Brian later co-authored the article, “Gain A New Perspective On Pre-Trial Practice,” which was published and presented at the 2007 National Business Institute Seminar on Bad Faith Insurance Claims In California.