In this post, I will introduce the legal team for Disney, the legal team for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board (CFTOD), and the judges in the cases. DeSantis is being represented by the Florida Attorney General’s office.
Disney’s Legal Team
Daniel Petrocelli
Daniel Petrocelli is a partner at a “big law” firm of O’Melveny & Myers. O’Melveny has been in entertainment law since Hollywood’s Golden Age of the 1930s. Petrocelli chairs the firm’s trial practice out of Los Angeles and is vice chair of the firm.
In April 2023, he was recognized as a “Legal Legend” by The Hollywood Reporter. This is an award that “honors entertainment attorneys whose career achievements and contributions to the industry are extraordinary.”
He made a name for himself when he successfully represented Ron Goldman’s father in a wrongful death lawsuit against O.J. Simpson. He has helped WB defend rights to Superman, Disney defend rights to Winnie the Pooh, and Marvel defend rights to various characters. He was also the attorney for Disney in their kerfuffle with Scarlett Johanssen.
One thing I appreciate about his background is that he did not go to a ivy league law school. He attended Southwestern University, which I’m sure is a fine school but I’m personally not familiar with it. It’s just nice to see someone have his level of success without seeing Harvard or Yale in their pedigree.
Disney hired Petrocelli to lead the fight against DeSantis.
Jonathan Hacker
Hacker is also a partner at O’Melveney in their D.C. office. He chairs the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice division of the firm. So it seems like we’ve got Petrocelli who is the trial guy and Hacker is probably the one prepping and examining issues from the angle of an appeal.
Stephen Brody
Brody is another partner at O’Melveney also out of the D.C. office. He is the founder and Co-Chair of the firm’s Attorney General Investigations and Litigation Practice.
I believe this comes into play because after Disney executed the Land Use Contracts over the District, Governor DeSantis requested his Chief Inspector General to investigate Disney and the prior Reedy Creek Board and report them to the proper authorities (ie: Law Enforcement). I’m sure Brody’s knowledge of Attorney General investigations will be important to Disney as DeSantis pursues his course of action there.
Alan Schoenfeld
Schoenfeld is a New York attorney and partner at the law firm of Wilmer Hale. My understanding is that he has represented Disney on a number of occasions. This includes a case where he was able to get class actions dismissed against Disney in Florida.
Both O’Meleveney and Wilmer Hale have Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion programs. I’m only pointing that out because DeSantis does not like DEI programs, so I wonder if it annoys him to have “woke” law firms after him.
Adam Losey
Losey is the only attorney on Disney’s legal team that has a Florida license. As such, he is responsible to ensure that any of the filings comply with Florida rules and procedures.
This is why you will see his signature on all of the papers filed. He needs to review everything to at least ensure compliance with the expectations of Florida courts.
It appears that Losey works as part of a family firm. There are two other Loseys in the firm–Ralph, who has 40-years of experience and I’m assuming is Adam’s father, and Catherine, who I’m guessing is Adam’s wife. Catherine formed Losey in 2016 and Adam was added as manager the following year, according to state records.
The Losey firm appears to focus on representing fortune 500 companies in “litigations” across the country.
I started my own practice in 2017 and I’m very curious how they ended up being counsel for these major companies, such as Disney.
The CFTOD’s Team
Florida has retained two law firms, a D.C. firm of Cooper & Kirk and a local firm Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC. Between the two firms, they are listing eight lawyers.
Charles (“Chuck”) Cooper
Chuck Cooper is one of the founding partners of Cooper & Kirk. When I was in law school, the issue of California’s Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage was in full swing. Marriage laws were the hot topic of the day. I even wrote my capstone law school paper on same-sex marriage issues.
Chuck Cooper was the attorney leading the anti-gay marriage case. He actually came to my university (BYU) to do a presentation on the arguments.
I don’t remember the details, but I came away not particularly impressed. Of course, those arguments lost at the Supreme Court and gay marriage ban was kiboshed.
This is not to say that Cooper is not an excellent attorney because he is. He had a tough issue to sell and the judges rejected his arguments. It just wasn’t meant to be.
Cooper has argued First Amendment issues in the U.S. Supreme Court previously. He represented school principles would wanted to invite clergy to pray at public school graduations. The Supreme Court ruled against him, narrowly, on the grounds that objectors may feel coerced to participate in the prayer.
David Thompson
Thompson is the first Harvard Law grad on the list of attorneys. I don’t know why I feel it is necessary to point that out, but I’m doing it.
He is the managing partner at Cooper & Kirk, meaning he is responsible for the management of the firm in addition to his attorney duties.
Cooper & Kirk is not a particularly large law firm. It would probably be considered more of a boutique firm, particularly for issues of a conservative nature.
That being said, Thompson has an impressive resume and has been involved in many situations that you would probably recognize from the news. This includes Duke Lacrosse Team rape case, the John Ashcraft “torture memos,” and the 2020 election issues.
Peter Patterson
Patterson is a Stanford trained attorney. So the Board is going Ivy League on Disney. Patterson is a partner at Cooper & Kirk.
Patterson is a contributor to the Federalist Society, meaning he has spoken or participated in society events. He at least participated, along with Thompson, in filing voter suppression lawsuits on behalf of Donald Trump, which were denied.
Megan Wold
As a partner at Cooper & Kirk, Wold focuses her practice on legal issues and brief-writing in complex commercial matters, constitutional litigation, and administrative law disputes.
She also assisted in drafting Idaho’s anti-abortion bill and was the main speaker to introduce the bill at committee. She did so as a lobbyist for Right to Life Idaho.
She clerked at the Supreme Court for Justice Alito. Wold went to law school at Notre Dame.
The other attorney from Cooper & Kirk is an associate attorney Joseph Masterman (Yale law). A fun fact about Masterman is that he was an editor for the Harvard Lampoon, a humor magazine, and he also apparently wrote a novel as his college thesis (which I also did for a class). Like Wold, he also clerked for Justice Alito at the US Supreme Court.
Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC
Alan Lawson was a judge in the Florida Ninth Circuit, which is where the CFTOD filed its lawsuit. He was also on the Florida Supreme Court until starting his current firm with Huck and Gonzalez.
Paul Huck, a Harvard Law grad, is a former Florida deputy Attorney General. He was also general counsel to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (who was republican at the time). He is well versed in representing clients in government investigations and in matters challenging government enforcement actions under Florida constitutional and statutory law. Although in this case, it seems, he’s on the other side of that coin.
Jason Gonzalez was General Counsel to the Florida Governor and served for two terms at the general counsel for the Florida Republic Party. As GC to the Governor, Gonzalez was instrumental in nominating two of the current sitting Florida Supreme Court judges.
I image these attorney are providing a lot of the information about the workings of Florida administrative law.
DeSantis’ Team
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody
DeSantis is being represented by the Florida Attorney General’s office. The AG is Ashley Moody. She obtained her law degree from the University of Florida. Her professional experience includes serving as a U.S. Attorney and as a Florida state court judge.
As AG, she has taken on numerous right-side issues, such as efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and opposing Covid-19 vaccination requirements. She supported the legal action seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election–even though attorneys in her staff believed the case was “bat [guano] insane” and “weird.”
John Guard
There are a total of six attorneys listed as representing DeSantis in their filings. I’m not going to review all of them. But John Guard is the attorney who is actually signing off on the filings and the various certificates confirming compliance with court rules.
Guard obtained his law degree from Tulane University. He is a former federal prosecutor and was a partner at a large law firm focusing on commercial litigation and government investigations.
He is now the Chief Deputy Attorney General for Florida. In that role, he is responsible for more than 400 lawyers and 700 staff, litigating, investigating, and prosecuting every type of case imaginable. The Tampa Bay Times noted he was a “non-political” appointee.
The Judges
Federal Court (Disney’s Lawsuit), Judge Mark Walker
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Judge Walker was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama. He has ruled against DeSantis in a number of cases.1
He’s known for his unique style and humor. He wears bow ties and quotes from movies and pop culture during hearings or in decisions. He’s referenced Star Trek and Stranger Things. This may have gotten him in a bit of hot water in this case. DeSantis has filed a motion asking Walker to remove himself from the case due to comments Walker made about Disney in other cases.
State Court (The Board’s Case), Judge Margaret H. Schreiber
According to a 9th Circuit Podcast:
Schrieber was an Air Force baby, born in Paris, France. She has lived all over the country. Ultimately, her family settled in Miami where she lived from high school on. She was involved in the music program and played piano for choral groups. As part of this performing ground, she visited a new attraction known as Disney World. She still hangs on to the original paper admission ticket.
She studied English and Political Science at Duke University. She attended law school at Vanderbilt intending to pursue career opportunities in government. However, out of law school, she joined the largest private firm in her area.
She became the second woman partner at her law firm. She then left that job to help manage a family construction business, where she also served as general counsel. She went back to law during the 2008 downturn.
She was appointed to a judgeship by Governor Rick Scott in 2011.
She said she appreciates civil litigation because of the diversity of cases she gets to see. She also helped establish a business court in Osceola County, to specialize in hearing business disputes.
