Kaye & Mills
Kevin Mills has had a remarkable and diverse legal career.
His first legal job was a summer position with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, Criminal Division, Environmental Protection. During his third year of law school, he held a full-time clerkship with the Land Use Division.
His first job as a lawyer was Counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. There, he assumed leadership roles on a variety of legislative initiatives and oversight matters including telecommunications and cable broadcasting, judicial appointments and the Immigration Reform Act.
Upon his return to Southern California, Mills practiced as a trial and appellate attorney specializing in municipal law, land use and environment until entering transactional entertainment law.
Mills has held senior business affairs positions with several studios, including Republic Pictures Corporation, Independent Artists Company, Hal Roach Studios and what is now Hallmark Entertainment. While at Republic Pictures, he was instrumental in recapturing the copyright to the classic film “It’s A Wonderful Life” which previously had been widely distributed as a work in the public domain. He also headed up all licensing and served as corporate secretary.
Over the past 20 years Mills’ practice has encompassed all aspects of talent and artist representation and also the financing, production and distribution of entertainment product in the areas of feature film, television and new media. He has extensive experience in international television and film distribution and have studied international business transactions in London, England. In addition, his practice includes general business transactions where he represents a number of different types of businesses, both large and small, including a significant number of start up companies.
Internet, computer and digital rights matters are important aspects to Mills’ practice in both the general corporate and entertainment fields. Further, brand exploitation and protection has assumed an increasingly significant role in recent years.
While the majority of his practice is in the field of entertainment, Mills has enjoyed working with a number of companies in the food and beverage industries. He has helped clients with interests in chocolate, condiments, cookbooks, soju, tequila, wine and restaurants.
Mills served on the Board of Directors of the Entertainment & Intellectual Property Alumni Association at Southwestern University School of Law and served on the Copyright Protection Committee of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, the trade association for independent producers and distributors. He is a member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is a founding member of the Executive Committee for the Intellectual Property, Internet & New Media Section.