Larry Sheffield
USC Gould School of Law

Larry Sheffield is an accomplished lawyer with vast experience working on both the buyer and talent side of the entertainment business. Originally from the greater Philadelphia area, Sheffield came to Los Angeles to attend law school at Pepperdine University after completing his undergraduate studies at The College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Seeing an opportunity to broaden his understanding of the entertainment business after graduating from law school and to pursue a childhood dream, Sheffield accepted a junior executive position in the business affairs department at the Writers and Artist Agency. Working under the supervision of Dina Appleton, the author of Hollywood Deal Making, Sheffield honed his skills as a tough but fair negotiator and earned the reputation as a deal-closer. Following a merger with Paradigm, he became an executive in Paradigm’s business affairs department where he spent the better part of 5 years. Now an experienced executive,  Sheffield was offered a Vice President position in the Business and Legal Affairs department of Capitol Films/ThinkFilms where he supervised and oversaw the production of 5 different movies among many other responsibilities including overseeing distribution agreements for multiple territories and platforms. With a desire to return to his true passion, Sheffield accepted an offer as Head of Business Affairs department at Montana Artists Agency in 2009, where he served until a much-publicized on to APA in 2014 as Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs. It was during this period that Sheffield proved to be invaluable by maintaining an orderly transition for the many agents and clients who moved from Montana to APA.

Sheffield has found success in being a tough, thoughtful and zealous advocate while also being a fair negotiator and believes that you can fight to get the most for your clients while remaining professional and keeping good working relationships with buyers, lawyers, managers, agents and other business professionals.

When not hard at work, Sheffield enjoys traveling, golfing, tennis, basketball, football, baseball, softball, hiking, yoga and open wheel car racing. Being a decorated track and cross country athlete while at The College of William and Mary, he also served as an Assistant Coach on Pepperdine’s Men’s Cross Country Team while in law school and maintains a love of running, racing and teaching.
 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

Los Angeles Times
May 11, 2022
Re: Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo was interviewed about how immigration shortfalls, like soaring housing prices, are fueling California’s population drop. “A whole assortment of the service sector area has been tremendously affected by a lack of immigrant labor that we haven’t really seen and is just really unprecedented,” she said. “Immigrant labor has been a huge part of the long-term home care sector, and a decline in the population in California has had a significant effect.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Ariela Gross
March, 2022

“Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana,” Centre International de Recherches sur les Esclavages at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.

Camille Gear Rich
March, 2022

“No More Boxes to Check: Imagining The Anti-Racist Law Firm,” NALP Annual Education Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Thomas D. Lyon
March, 2022

“Disclosure Among Child Abuse Victims” (with K. London and M. Eisen), Fourth Zoom Psychology and Law Symposium: Children in Legal Settings, Maastrict University, Maastricht, Netherlands.