JOHN MASON, a native of Los Angeles, is the head of the Firm's Entertainment and Lifestyle Practice Group. John received his B.A. (Political Science) with Honors from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968 and his J.D. with Highest Honors (Order of the Coif), from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1971, where he was the Managing Editor of the California Law Review, Associate Editor of the Ecology Law Quarterly, Chairman of the Moot Court Board and the author of two law review articles.
John began his legal career in the motion picture department of Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz and Selvin, the premier entertainment law firm in the country at the time. At KLGB&S he worked on behalf of several Academy Award winners, was a lead attorney on seven different television series and began a world renowned practice in music. In 1978, John resigned from KLGB&S and formed the Law Offices of John E. Mason, Ltd., the firm which he continued with various partners to this day.
John began early in his career representing or working on matters for icons in film and music. He has traveled throughout the world representing his entertainment roster and has been licensed in three states, California, Nevada and Tennessee. He has served as Chairman of the Nevada Film Commission and as host of both his own nationally televised satellite talk show and a regular celebrity interview segment on the CW affiliate in Reno, Nevada. John
has made a career of representing talent in music, film, television, literary and music publishing and electronic media. John has represented directly or through their heirs six Oscar winners as well as recording artists whose worldwide sales exceed 100,000,000 units.
John is recognized throughout the world as a leader in the fields of entertainment law and intellectual property.
Actively committed to the entertainment community and to the larger community, John has served as National Trustee and Chairman of the Western Regional Executive Board of the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis; as a Vice President of the Music Industry Chapter of the City of Hope, a
Trustee of both the Barton Memorial Hospital Foundation and of Sage Ridge School (Grades 6 to 12 in Reno, Nevada) and as a member of the Board of The Unusual Suspects, a non-profit organization bringing training in acting, writing and directing theater to youth in foster homes and the juvenile justice system. John was appointed in 2000 by President George W. Bush to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
John has been named "Entertainment Lawyer of the Year," by Billboard Magazine and has been the recipient of the pre-eminent and coveted A/V national attorney rating in the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory for more than 30 years. In addition, John has received the Gold Medal Award as Humanitarian of the Year from the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis Sports Council and is a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a Lifetime Papal Order as well as a 3rd Degree black belt in the Korean martial art of Hapkido. Renowned in the entertainment industry, John has been the subject of many articles in the Los Angeles Times, American Lawyer, Los Angeles Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reported, Los Angeles Daily Business Journal, Variety, New York Times, Reno Gazette Journal, Las Vegas Review Journal and other publications.
JOHN has represented
directly or through their heirs six
Oscar Winners as well as
Recording Artists whose
WORLDWIDE SALES exceed
100 MILLION units.
ALEX ORBISON- President of Roy's Boys
“John has represented and been a friend of Orbison since the 70s. The matters that John handled were tough, but John believes in the artist and the artist’s rights. What he said would happen did happen. Outside of business John was great friends of my mother, Barbara, and my dad, Roy. My dad went to his wedding! How many weddings do you think Roy Orbison went to?”