Your Keynote Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California

Rob Bonta serves as the 34th Attorney General of California, where he leads the California Department of Justice and oversees enforcement of state laws to protect consumers, promote competition, and hold corporations accountable. As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, he directs one of the nation’s most influential state justice departments, which plays a central role in major antitrust, consumer protection, and corporate enforcement matters affecting the entertainment, technology, and media sectors.

Since taking office in 2021, Attorney General Bonta has prioritized protecting Californians from corporate misconduct, deceptive business practices, and abuses of market power, while advancing fairness and accountability across the state’s economy.

Before becoming Attorney General, Bonta served more than eight years in the California State Assembly, where he authored landmark legislation to strengthen consumer protections, safeguard workers’ rights, and increase corporate accountability. He previously served as a Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco.

Bonta is the first person of Filipino descent to serve as Attorney General of California.

Your Keynote Nick Stoller, Director and Screenwriter

Nicholas Stoller is an English-American screenwriter and director. He is known for directing the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and writing/directing its 2010 spin-off/sequel, Get Him to the Greek. He also wrote The Muppets and directed the Seth Rogen comedy, Neighbors. He is a frequent creative partner of Jason Segel.

Your Keynote Rohit Chopra, former FTC Commissioner and CFPB Director

The conference will feature remarks by former FTC Commissioner and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. Chopra also serves as a key adviser to state attorneys general on antitrust, technology, consumer protection, and affordability. At the conference, Chopra will discuss consolidation in the media and entertainment industries. 

Your Keynote Tammy Brandt, Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

Tammy Brandt is Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where she oversees corporate legal matters including mergers and acquisitions, compliance, intellectual property, government relations, and governance for one of the world’s leading entertainment and sports agencies.

Previously, she served as Chief Legal Officer and Head of Business and Legal Affairs at FaZe Clan, where she led the company’s public listing via SPAC transaction in 2022. She has also held senior legal leadership roles at Dreamscape Immersive and DXC Technology, bringing deep experience at the intersection of media, technology, and corporate strategy.

Doha Mekki, former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice

Doha Mekki previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, where she oversaw the Division’s civil and criminal enforcement, litigation, and competition policy initiatives. During her tenure, she played a key role in merger enforcement and cases involving digital markets, labor competition, healthcare, and other major sectors of the U.S. economy.

She currently serves as a senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, focusing on competition policy and economic justice.

Daniel Ambar, California Department of Justice

Daniel Ambar is a Deputy Attorney General with the Antitrust Division of the California Department of Justice, where he investigates and litigates antitrust matters across a variety of industries, including media and technology. His work includes competition issues involving platform power, content distribution, and digital markets.

Prior to joining the California Department of Justice, Mr. Ambar practiced antitrust and complex litigation at O’Melveny & Myers and Latham & Watkins, where he worked on major media and technology antitrust matters. He also previously served as product and privacy counsel at WarnerMedia, advising on regulatory issues affecting digital media and entertainment products.

W. Joseph Anderson, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

W. Joseph Anderson is a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, based in Los Angeles, where he advises clients across the entertainment, media, and technology sectors on complex corporate, intellectual property, and transactional matters. His practice spans film, television, music, gaming, podcasting, and digital platforms, representing talent, production companies, brands, and emerging technology ventures.

Joe has represented leading artists, production companies, and technology platforms in high-profile transactions, including advising Jason Momoa, TikTok, and Disney Branded TV on major productions, partnerships, and live events. He also counsels clients on emerging issues at the intersection of entertainment and technology, including AI, digital distribution, licensing, and platform partnerships.

Recognized as one of Variety’s New Leaders of 2023 and a Billboard Top Music Lawyer, Joe is a frequent speaker on AI, media consolidation, and the evolving legal and business landscape shaping the entertainment industry.

Jackie Brenneman, International Film & Television Alliance

Jackie Brenneman is President & CEO of International Film & Television Alliance and the American Film Market (AFMÒ). A longtime advocate for independent film and the global creative community, she brings decades of experience at the intersection of policy, business strategy, and market innovation.

Prior to joining IFTA, Brenneman served as Executive Vice President & General Counsel of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and as founding President of The Cinema Foundation, where she helped launch National Cinema Day and led major industry-wide initiatives focused on growth, accessibility, and audience engagement. She is also a co-founder of The Fithian Group, a strategic consultancy supporting the evolving theatrical and independent film ecosystem.

Brenneman is known for her collaborative leadership style, deep policy expertise, and commitment to strengthening cross-border partnerships that support independent storytellers worldwide.

Brenneman serves on the Board of Directors of the Attend Theatrical Marketplace, a platform she played a key role in developing, and holds a seat on the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission.

David Dayen, The American Prospect

David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power and Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud. He co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with Matt Stoller.

Jessica J. González, Free Press

Jessica J. González is the Co-CEO of Free Press and a leading media policy advocate and public-policy lawyer focused on competition, platform accountability, and the future of the media ecosystem. She has spent more than two decades advancing policy at the intersection of media, technology, and democracy, including serving as a staff attorney at Georgetown Law and leading federal policy efforts at the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Jessica has played a central role in major accountability campaigns involving dominant technology platforms, including co-leading the Stop Hate for Profit initiative. She regularly advises policymakers and appears as an expert in Congress and national media on issues related to media policy, platform power, and the digital economy.

Jonathan Handel, Entertainment/Technology Attorney

Jonathan Handel is a Los Angeles–based entertainment and technology lawyer, journalist, and commentator whose work sits at the intersection of media, labor, and emerging technology. He practices transactional entertainment and technology law at Feig/Finkel and independently, representing talent, producers, production companies, authors, software developers, and technology companies on entertainment transactions, guild and union matters, and technology agreements. Alongside his legal practice, Handel is a longtime journalist covering entertainment labor, unions, industry business dynamics, and is a frequent media commentator. He has previously served as associate counsel at the Writers Guild, outside special counsel to SAG-AFTRA, a contributing editor at The Hollywood Reporter, and a contributor to Puck, bringing a rare dual perspective on both the legal and journalistic sides of Hollywood. Follow him at jhandel.news.

Michael Hartman, DIRECTV

Michael Hartman has served as General Counsel and Chief External Affairs Officer of DIRECTV since February 2021. He is responsible for overseeing all legal, external affairs and compliance matters.

Prior to this, Michael served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Vrio Corp (previously DIRECTV Latin America) from May 2004 to February 2021. Vrio Corp provides pay television services in Latin America and, along with its parent company DIRECTV, was acquired by AT&T in 2015. Michael also served as Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of DIRECTV from 2013 to 2015. Prior to 2004, Michael served as General Counsel of CycleLogic, Inc. (formerly StarMedia Networks, Inc.)

Lee Hepner, American Economic Liberties Project

Lee Hepner is a California-based antitrust lawyer and Senior Legal Counsel for the American Economic Liberties Project. He started his career in civil litigation, representing plaintiffs in labor and First Amendment litigation. For the last decade, he has worked in and out of government on policies that address corporate power at the local, state and federal level.

Ethan E. Litwin, Shinder Cantor Lerner

Ethan E. Litwin is a partner at Shinder Cantor Lerner with more than 25 years of experience handling complex antitrust litigation, criminal and civil government investigations, and merger reviews under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and analogous global competition laws. He represents plaintiffs and defendants in high-profile multidistrict litigations and has extensive experience before the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and European Commission.

Litwin has served as co-lead counsel in significant entertainment and sports matters, including the Writers Guild of America’s successful litigation against leading Hollywood talent agencies. He currently represents major corporate and institutional clients across industries including media and entertainment, sports, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and technology. He is recognized by Chambers USA for his strategic approach to complex antitrust matters and is a frequent speaker and author on competition law issues.

Elaine Low, The Ankler

Elaine Low is a staff writer at The Ankler, covering the evolution of Hollywood’s business model and work culture in the streaming age. She writes the weekly Series Business newsletter, for which she won best online columnist at the Los Angeles Press Club’s 2024 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.

Elaine was previously a senior entertainment reporter for Business Insider, where she explored the shift in Netflix’s corporate culture leading up to the Netflix Correction of 2022, and examined the pandemic’s economic impact on the next generation of Hollywood. Prior to that, she spent several years as a senior reporter for Variety covering the business of television, writing nine cover stories on everything from Netflix’s global programming strategy, to Mindy Kaling’s growing comedy empire to Hollywood’s reckoning over representation amid the Black Lives Matter movement, the last of which won an LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award.

Kim Masters, Puck News

A veteran entertainment reporter and Hollywood legend in her own right, Kim Masters is the host of KCRW’s The Business, the former editor-at-large of The Hollywood Reporter, and co-author of the industry classic, Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood.

Rohit Nath, Susman Godfrey LLP

Rohit Nath is a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP and a leading trial lawyer focused on high-stakes litigation involving technology, media, and intellectual property. He has recovered more than $500 million for plaintiffs and represented Fortune 500 companies in disputes involving billions of dollars, taking on major technology platforms, insurers, and telecommunications firms.

Rohit is at the forefront of litigation shaping the future of artificial intelligence and creative rights. He co-led the team in Bartz v. Anthropic, securing a landmark $1.5 billion settlement on behalf of authors in one of the most significant copyright cases involving AI. He also represents prominent writers in ongoing copyright litigation against OpenAI and Microsoft, addressing fundamental questions about AI training, intellectual property, and platform accountability.

Previously a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Rohit has been recognized as a California Lawyer of the Year, a National Law Journal Litigation Trailblazer, and one of the nation’s top intellectual property lawyers. His work sits at the center of the legal and technological shifts reshaping media, content, and digital platforms.

Rahul Rao, White & Case

Rahul Rao brings deep experience in antitrust enforcement, litigation, and competition policy. He previously served as Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition and as Managing Assistant Attorney General in the Washington State Attorney General’s Antitrust Division. In those roles, he led high-profile merger investigations and litigation across sectors including technology, labor, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, private equity, and consumer goods, and played a key role in major enforcement actions involving vertical and horizontal mergers, portfolio effects, and private-equity acquisitions.

Rahul was a principal contributor to landmark FTC policy initiatives, including the 2023 Merger Guidelines, 2025 HSR rule changes, and Section 5 enforcement, and helped shape the agency’s approach to competition in emerging markets such as AI and digital platforms. In private practice, he advises clients on merger clearance, government investigations, and compliance strategies, drawing on his unique insight into federal and state enforcement priorities. He is a frequent speaker and thought leader on antitrust policy and enforcement trends.

Catherine Simonsen, Simonsen Sussman LLP

Catherine Simonsen is a partner and co-founder of Simonsen Sussman LLP, a boutique, plaintiff-side antitrust litigation firm. Catherine has over a decade of experience investigating and litigating government and private antitrust cases on both the plaintiff and defense sides in federal and California state courts. Prior to co-founding the firm, Catherine served as the Assistant Regional Director for the Western Competition Group at the Federal Trade Commission, where she managed several merger and conduct investigations, and as Senior Legal Fellow for the American Economic Liberties Project. Before joining the FTC, Catherine served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Antitrust Section of the California Attorney General’s office and was a partner at an Am Law 100 international law firm. Catherine holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from Stanford University.

D. Daniel Sokol, University of Southern California's Gould School of Law and Marshall School of Business

D. Daniel Sokol is the Carolyn Craig Franklin Chair in Law and a Professor of Law and Business at the USC Gould School of Law and USC Marshall School of Business, where he also serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Transnational Law and Business and Co-Director of the USC Marshall Initiative on Digital Competition. He holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Economics and serves as Senior Advisor at White & Case LLP.

Professor Sokol is among the most cited antitrust law scholars in the United States and is widely recognized for his expertise on digital platforms, mergers and acquisitions, innovation, and global competition policy. His research and teaching focus on the intersection of antitrust, corporate governance, and the regulation of emerging technologies and platform markets.

He serves as an academic advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and as a Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network. His work has been published in leading academic and business journals, including the Harvard Business Review, Michigan Law Review, and the Journal of Law and Economics.

Aaron Teitelbaum, Kressin Powers and former Senior Litigation Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division

Aaron Teitelbaum is an antitrust litigator and former Senior Litigation Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, where he co-led two of the Department’s most significant recent trials, including its challenges to JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines and Google’s alleged monopolization of digital advertising technology markets. A seasoned trial lawyer, he has tried approximately 15 cases to verdict and received multiple Assistant Attorney General Honorary Awards for his antitrust advocacy.

Previously, Aaron served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Colorado and began his career at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He is currently a partner at Kressin Powers, where he focuses on antitrust litigation and complex investigations.

Your Host Teddy Downey, The Capitol Forum

Teddy Downey – Founder, CEO & Executive Editor, The Capitol Forum; Host of The Second Request Podcast

For more than 14 years, Teddy Downey has led The Capitol Forum, guiding its growth into a leading source for investigative reporting on antitrust, trade, and regulatory policy. Named one of Washington, D.C.’s “500 Most Influential People” by Washingtonian magazine for the last four consecutive years, he also hosts The Second Request podcast, where he speaks with policymakers, attorneys, and industry leaders about competition strategy and enforcement trends. Downey previously served as Senior Vice President at MF Global’s Washington Research Group.

Your Moderator Nate Soderstrom, The Capitol Forum

Nate Soderstrom is a Senior Editor and General Counsel at The Capitol Forum. Previously, he served in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, where he held senior leadership positions including Special Counsel for Merger Analysis, Acting Deputy Director, and Associate Director for Merger Analysis.

Prior to his tenure at the FTC, Nate spent nearly a decade at The Capitol Forum, where he was instrumental in establishing the company’s reputation for rigorous and high-impact antitrust coverage. Earlier in his career, Nate practiced at an international law firm, where he advised clients in antitrust matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, complex antitrust litigation, and government investigations.

Your Moderator Jeff Bliss, The Capitol Forum

Jeff Bliss co-leads the mergers and acquisitions coverage and also works on stories related to government contracts and consumer protection issues. He joined The Capitol Forum after spending four years at MLex, where he led US M&A coverage. Before that, he reported for Bloomberg on antitrust as well as Congress, the White House and national-security agencies. Jeff also has worked for national computer and consumer magazines.

Your Moderator Sacha Sloan, The Capitol Forum

Sacha Sloan is a Senior Correspondent at The Capitol Forum covering antitrust policy. He will serve as a moderator at The Future of Hollywood conference. His reporting has appeared in The Boston Globe and Providence Business News. Before joining the team, he interned at the Brennan Center for Justice and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Your Moderator Rebecca Kern, The Capitol Forum

Rebecca Kern is a Senior Correspondent covering antitrust and competition issues on Capitol Hill for The Capitol Forum. Prior to joining the publication, she spent more than 15 years as a policy and politics reporter on Capitol Hill for major news outlets, including POLITICO and Bloomberg Government, where she reported on social media companies, kids’ online safety, privacy, tech firms’ liability shield, and cybersecurity. She also brings government experience from her role as a public affairs officer at the Federal Trade Commission under Chair Lina Khan, where she oversaw communications on major tech enforcement cases, including the COPPA violation lawsuit against TikTok. Ms. Kern graduated from American University with a degree in journalism.