Law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp announced that renowned entertainment industry executive John Schulman will join the firm as a partner and chairman of its entertainment department, effective Jan. 1, 2010. In addition, he also will become a new member of the MS&K governing board.

Schulman retired last year after a 25-year career at Warner Bros., where he was the executive vice president and general counsel of the studio. During that time, he created, staffed, and built what is now recognized as one of the top in-house legal departments in the entertainment industry and earned a reputation as a highly regarded entertainment lawyer and corporate executive.

Earlier this year, Schulman was named executive director of the USC Gould School of Law's entertainment law program, a role he will continue while at MS&K. Schulman started his legal career by working in private practice at the law firm of Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz and Selvin. During his nine years at the firm, he worked on a variety of Warner Bros. assignments, including some of the litigation and negotiations regarding the "Superman" franchise and first "Superman" movies. He was also formerly a founding partner of the law firm then known as Weissman, Wolff, Bergman, Coleman & Schulman, where he continued to serve as one of Warner Bros.' primary outside litigation counsel.