S. Michael Kernan, Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct Professor Michael Kernan was first exposed to entertainment law when he was an Executive Associate Editor of the Hastings Communications & Entertainment Law Review.

Professor Kernan teaches classes on both the "The Law and Business of the Entertainment Industry" and "Digital Dealmaking in the New Millennium." Since 2000, Professor Kernan has focused his work on the converging media of television and the Internet. During this time, he has worked with major brand advertisers and online partners to establish new formats for online programming and new cross-media business models. Professor Kernan is currently the CEO of NuMedia Studios, a hybrid digital production and management company which functions both as a personal management and consulting firm, and as a digital studio, taking advantage of the transition in media from traditional to digital. He was named this past year as a member of the Hollywood Reporter "Digital Power 50" list. On the studio side, NuMedia creates or packages content that uses the emerging markets such as Facebook as the distribution platform for that content. He has made new media content deals with many of the top technology companies in the world. Over the past year, Professor Kernan lent his expertise as a consultant for a leading television network as it sought to expand its digital presence through content with advertisers. And, on the Management side, NuMedia represents some of the top brands in digital media, such as Fatal1ty, the top professional videogammer in the world, and Xenophile Media, the most award winning interactive content and alternative reality game production company in the world.

Before launching NuMedia Studios, Professor Kernan spent eight years at the Los Angeles office of International Creative Management, ICM, one of the largest talent agencies in the world. Professor Kernan was an agent at ICM and rose to be the Vice President and Co-Head of Digital Media at ICM, handling digital media deals for ICM's Los Angeles, New York and London offices.

Prior to ICM, Professor Kernan was an entertainment attorney at two of LA's top entertainment law firms: Behr, Abramson & Kaller, and Lavely & Singer. Professor Kernan gained notoriety when he and his mentor Marty Singer successfully represented actor Jean Claude Van Dame in a trial televised on Court TV. Mr. Singer and Mr. Kernan went on to successfully represent Arnold Schwarzenegger again in Schwarzenegger's successful lawsuit against The Globe tabloid. Kernan concluded his litigation career shortly after he won a large arbitration award on behalf of actor Dana Carvey.

He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1996 and an Adjunct Professor at Hastings since the 2007/2008 school year.