Southern California communities ravaged by life-threatening wildfires now have a Biglaw firm to thank for coming to the rescue when FireAid — the star-studded benefit concert that’s raised more than $60 million thus far — hired them to assist on a pro bono basis, just two weeks before the event.
Armed with a team of six associates, Stephen Fackler, a Gibson Dunn partner based in Palo Alto and New York, volunteered to take the lead, advising on media distribution contracts, tax strategy, and charity solicitation regulations. The task, as Fackler explained to The Recorder, wasn’t an easy one.
Gibson Dunn’s team began by identifying trends in state tax rules and which states had clear-cut rulings. This included reaching out to attorneys general and secretaries of state across the nation, Fackler said. …
FireAid also needed legal help to communicate with Ticketmaster to lock out the resale market for the concert tickets and to negotiate with other ticket resellers to ensure that scalpers didn’t ruin the charitable initiative, Fackler said.
Gibson Dunn also handled the review of some media distribution agreements for the concert, which was streamed on more than 25 platforms ranging from social media to traditional streaming services and even movie theaters like Regal and AMC Theaters.
“The time challenge was extreme,” Fackler told The Recorder. “I was reviewing contracts as late as … hours before the concert started.” Despite many difficulties involved with such short timeframe, Fackler and his team were able to get the job done — and done well.
Congratulations to Gibson Dunn, and an even bigger congratulations to the many beneficiaries of the FireAid concert.
How Gibson Dunn Lawyers Helped Assemble the LA FireAid Benefit Concert in ‘Extreme’ Time Crunch [The Recorder]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
