Pierce Law Group Shuttering Nearly A Year After Boutique Firm Founder Dies; Key Staff Joining Pessah Law Group

Dominic Patten
·2-min read

EXCLUSIVE: Several months after entertainment attorney David Albert Pierce passed away last year, the boutique firm that bears his name is closing the doors.

Pierce Law Group will cease to exist immediately, with a number of partners and key staff moving on to the Pessah Law Group, I’ve learned. Managing Partner Aditya Ezhuthachan, partner and SAG vet Tony Hanna, and Controller Ben Kuerschner are among those joining litigator Maurice Pessah’s firm.

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A former Chair of the Entertainment Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Board member of the Friars Club in Beverly Hills and a regular columnist for MovieMaker Magazine, Pierce died on July 29, 2023. The 56-year-old lawyer’s cause of death was never made public.

Representing the likes of Netflix, The Comedy Store, Lionsgate and now relocating Slamdance over the years, Pierce formed his Bev Hills-based firm in 1996.

“David Pierce was a prolific entertainment lawyer, and I was beyond honored when Aditya approached us about joining forces,” said Pessah today. “I immediately thought that this would be a great marriage since we had been talking about bolstering our transactional capabilities. David was a legend, known around legal and industry circles as a great person and gifted attorney. We are humbled by the opportunity to keep his legacy alive.”

“While we are sad to see Pierce Law Group LLP close, we are thrilled to carry on David’s legacy of stellar legal work, uncompromising ethics, and fierce dedication to our clients,” added Ezhuthachan of the now enhanced PLG. “There is no better place for us to do this than Pessah Law Group, with its talented slate of lawyers, where our clients will benefit from the expanded legal services.”

“Pierce Law Group’s studio and production company clients will now enjoy a broader scope of services at a larger firm with an established reputation in the community,” stated Hanna, who has long handled a multiutfe of labor related legal matters for all Lionsgate Film & Television produced films, and spent nearly a decade at SAG. “We will have all the necessary resources to adeptly navigate the unique maze that often surrounds film, television, and music production.”

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