Rose Leda Ehler
Age: 38
Law firm: Munger, Tolles & Olson
Practice: Litigation
Title: Partner
Location: Los Angeles
Law School: Stanford Law School
Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.
I served as co-lead counsel in securing a $62.4 million jury award on behalf of Disney, Warner Bros., Lucasfilm, and other studios against VidAngel, which devised a creative scheme to pirate iconic movies such as “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” and then “rent” them for $1, arguing that a little-known statute, The Family Movie Act, excused their infringement. It did not.
The jury awarded the studios $75,000 in damages for each of the 819 movies whose copyrights were infringed, which, at the time, was the largest copyright infringement award based on a per-work-infringed amount.
I’m presently counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) defending the district court’s order dismissing claims by a company offering stream-ripping technology, Yout LLC. Yout accused RIAA of defaming it by informing Google that Yout circumvents its rolling cipher technology. I look forward to arguing the appeal this summer.
What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?
The facts are your friends! The most important lesson I learned in my first years at the firm were to be in the weeds in the discovery process, looking at the documents that were important to the case so I could see how the puzzle fit together.
Knowing the facts of the case— both the good and the bad— makes you a better lawyer, shows others the value you bring to a team and helps you be the best advocate you can be for clients. For junior attorneys, knowing the facts is the key to getting big opportunities early on in your career and demonstrating to clients that you care about their business and the legal issues they face.
I think the advice holds as a more senior attorney, although there is less time to pore over the documents. Having a deep knowledge of the facts is still the key to my case wins to this day.
How do you define success in your practice?
For me, success is having the opportunity to work with clients and colleagues who are brilliant, engaged and value teamwork to solve complex legal issues. Over the course of my career, I have contributed to and continue to work on significant, cutting-edge cases that have helped shape intellectual property law in the entertainment and technology industries. The “win” matters, but I think the real success is in achieving those results through a team of colleagues and clients where the contributions of everyone make the work product better.
What are you most proud of as a lawyer?
I am incredibly proud of being a part of MTO, a firm with such a rich history and culture. The ethos of doing excellent work runs deep and has attracted a group of partners and associates that bring me to the firm every day.
MTO is a true leader in diversity: From its early days with Carla Hills, a powerhouse and founding partner— to when I joined and MTO was one of only a handful of firms with a woman managing partner—to today, with our current managing partner, Hailyn Chen, continuing that commitment.
Our firm culture attracts amazing talent and clients who share those same values. The best part of my work and career is having such dedicated and thoughtful colleagues.
Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?
I have been so fortunate to learn from the amazing attorneys who precede me at MTO. In particular, I am grateful to my mentor, Kelly Klaus, a litigation partner at MTO.
Kelly is the best copyright litigator in the country, a phenomenal writer and brilliant strategic thinker. I try to model the way in which he fully engages with the most difficult aspects of our clients’ problems, and then distills it for the courtroom.
More than the intellectual side of our work, Kelly taught me to approach what we do with a sense of humor, fun and a contagious laugh. I hope to pay forward the skills he has taught me, and more importantly, the ability to find joy in what we do.
What are your two favorite songs on your summer playlist?
A top pick for my summer playlist is” Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones because it makes my kids dance, and then really anything and everything by The Head And The Heart for a relaxing picnic.
Rose Leda Ehler currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Copyright Society, an industry group. She also has served for five years on the board of Hope Street Friends. Ehler previously served as co-chair of Munger, Tolles & Olson’s Women’s Initiative and now serves on the firm’s Diversity Committee and co-leads its Combatting Systemic Racism Task Force.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: