Kimberlina N. McKinney
Kimberlina N. McKinney, Esq. is a distinguished entertainment law professional with over a decade of experience in the industry. Her practice spans international and domestic media ventures, union/guild productions, acquisitions, licensing, and distribution deals.
Kimberlina specializes in intellectual property, deal strategy, and negotiations, catering to diverse entertainment realms, including television, film, new media, music, tech-tainment ventures, and live events. While serving as in-house counsel, Kimberlina collaboratively oversaw global scripted business and legal affairs, including negotiating and drafting agreements across Brazil, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Canada, U.S.A. and more.
Kimberlina deliberately cultivated her education overseas, spanning International Business and Politics at The Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland and The Universidad de San Francisco in Ecuador where she studied International Policy and Human Rights. Now, Kimberlina is a trusted legal advisor for global enterprises that rely on her cultural and language proficiency in English, Spanish and French.
Kimberlina commenced her legal career with litigating high-stakes right of publicity and privacy cases for A-list celebrities like Sandra Bullock, Tyra Banks, Halle Berry, Liam Neeson, Jude Law, and the landmark case Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker Media.
Not long after, she established her own thriving entertainment law practice where she provided invaluable guidance to media enterprises, producers, writers, and musicians, such as Omarion, Roc Nation Rapper Neelam Hakeem, Artimage Entertainment, Sugar Shane Mosely, and Fullscreen Media (a Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition).
Kimberlina has played a pivotal role in shaping projects that resonate with audiences worldwide. While serving as in-house counsel for renowned entertainment entities such as Fremantle Media, A+E Networks, and Levity Live (a subsidiary of AMC Networks), she worked on some of their most notable projects, including Netflix’s remake of Lincoln Lawyer, Showtime’s award-winning limited series Fellow Travelers, ABC’s Big Sky, American Gods on
Starz, several biopics for Lifetime such as Mahalia and The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, Mosquito Coast on Apple+, Netflix’s 8-episode music documentary (Re)Mastered, and various comedy specials for Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, Trevor Noah, Sebastian Maniscalo, Bert Kreischer and Vir Das.
Kimberlina is also ean Adjunct Professor of Business Law and Negotiations at UCLA School of Law and California State University, Northridge.
Beyond her academic roles, Kimberlina champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the industry. She served as the Co-President of the DEI Council at Fremantle, where her influence was instrumental in shaping inclusive policies and initiatives. She was elected as the Chair of the Vendor Diversity Committee and led the company’s first global vendor diversity management software integration. At A+E Networks, Kimberlina was selected as the Co-Editor in Chief for the Legal and Business Affairs Newsletter and took the helm as the Chair of the Diversity Behind the Camera Subcommittee - the first of its kind at the company.
Kimberlina regularly amplifies diverse voices as a moderator and panelist for industry events, such as the Entertainment Immersion Program at the Southern University Law Center, the Black Entertainment Career Summit for Diverse Representation, Fremantle’s Women's Equality Day Panel, and the Global Legal, Business Affairs and Rights Conference in London, UK.
Ms. McKinney holds a Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Black Studies from Scripps College.
Kimberlina enjoys educating herself on psychosomatic, spiritual and EQ practices to help with raising her only child. They regularly travel together, spanning countries like Cuba, Mexico, the Pacific Islands, and innumerable cities within the United States.
Ms. McKinney is licensed to practice in California.