William J. Kay is an experienced entertainment lawyer with more than 20 years of experience representing production companies, writers, producers, and other professionals in the Entertainment Industry.  He also has experience in probate and trust litigation, helping to resolve disputes with high conflict individuals.

Prior to starting The Law Office of William J. Kay, Inc., William was Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, and was responsible for managing its iconic intellectual property library.  William worked to re-establish, re-release, and remake some of their classic children’s shows while also creating new properties for licensing to major TV Networks.  In this capacity William helped restart the Company as a Television Production Company, honing his significant experience in TV production from inception to completion.  William has served as Production Legal Counsel for over 100 television episodes which have aired on traditional cable networks like Nickelodeon, and streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime.  William represents a range of production companies and entertainment professionals with extensive experience negotiating deals that involve copyright and trademark issues.

William also has nearly a decade of experience in estate planning, probate, and trust and estates litigation, including the representation of heirs, beneficiaries and trustees.  William is frequently retained to resolve complex and challenging disputes with complicated family dynamics and high conflict individuals.  For example, William represented the beneficiary of a trust in a dispute with his sister and a trustee over the sale of the house in which William’s client grew up and still lived.  Although the litigation was well underway, William negotiated an equitable settlement, which saved the family from years of expensive litigation.  William also speaks extensively to financial advisors and other professionals about the estate planning process.

William also represents corporations, non-profits,  and other business entities to appropriately structure, their business to stay compliant with state and federal filing requires.  He helps ensure that the business is structured to ensure maximum limit of liability, that the intellectual properties of the organization are property secured, and works with tax professionals to help his clients maximize tax efficiency.  Also, William works as these organizations outside General Counsel, to help each organization to marshal all its legal efforts and over see its legal team and legal needs.

William graduated from UCLA and obtained his J.D. from the Southwestern University School of Law.  William is a member of the State Bar of California and the Beverly Hills Bar Association.