Akerman Adds Team of IP and Commercial Litigation Partners
Akerman LLP has added intellectual property partner Caroline Mankey and commercial litigation partner Kanika Corley in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
They join from Sedgwick LLP, where Mankey chaired the Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Group.
In a release, the firm said the lawyers join Akerman’s Los Angeles team at a time when it has more than doubled in size since 2015 to 32 lawyers. In recent months, the office relocated to the CalEdison DTLA to accommodate continuing growth.
“Caroline and Kanika are highly skilled lawyers who bring important depth to our intellectual property and commercial litigation team in Los Angeles and nationwide,” said Lawrence Rochefort, chair of the Litigation Practice Group. “We look forward to making even greater contributions to our clients through their comprehensive knowledge of the entertainment, arts, fashion, retail, sports and technology sectors.”
“Caroline and Kanika add great value to Akerman’s national IP and litigation platforms, as we expand our Los Angeles presence to meet the growing needs of our clients,” said Sue Zabloudil, Los Angeles office managing partner. “In Los Angeles and nationwide, we remain focused on making Akerman a place where clients benefit from a diversity of ideas and experiences essential to advance their goals as well as our culture of collaborative innovation.”
Caroline Mankey
Mankey is a trial lawyer representing clients in intellectual property matters in the entertainment, arts, fashion, retail and technology sectors. She focuses her practice on copyright, trademark, trade secret, design patent, licensing and other contract rights, and rights of publicity disputes. Her entertainment clients include motion picture studios and production companies, actors, comedians, television personalities, and artists.
Mankey is recognized among the National Law Journal’s 2017 list of Intellectual Property Trailblazers and among the Daily Journal’s 2017 Top Intellectual Property Lawyers in California. She serves as chair of the Women Who Lead Board for the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel and as a board member of Female Executives in Media and Entertainment.
Kanika Corley
Corley has a business and entertainment litigation practice. Her clients include multimedia companies, musicians and other creatives, professional athletes, fashion brands, wine manufacturers, and hotels. She focuses her practice on commercial disputes as well as soft intellectual property litigation and prosecution for clients in the media, entertainment and sports sectors.
Corley was named to the National Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40 Nation’s Best Advocates list. In addition to her practice, she serves as an adjunct professor for the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law.
Mankey and Corley are the latest lateral partners to join the Los Angeles team. Other recent additions include consumer financial partner Kathleen “Kitty” Ryan, a former Deputy Assistant Director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Regulations, and real estate transactional associate Christopher Muno, who represents operators, developers and investors in connection with the formation and structuring of real estate joint ventures and other investment vehicles.
