There was a time when the most important person in a recording artist's life was said to be the manager, or perhaps the producer, or even the spouse who knew when to say nothing. These days, it appears to be the lawyer.

The Hollywood Reporter has published its annual roster of the 55 most influential attorneys in the music business, a list that reads less like a legal directory than like a map of where the money went. The lawyers named closed deals for catalog sales, negotiated residencies at the Sphere in Las Vegas, structured tours for artists ranging from Phoebe Bridgers to Lady Gaga and, in what has become an obligatory category, grappled with the legal implications of artificial intelligence.

The numbers involved are not small. Lisa Alter and Katie Baron of Alter Kendrick & Baron are credited with closing $1.25 billion in transactions over the past year, including the acquisition of catalogs featuring songs by Britney Spears and DJ Khaled. Kirkland & Ellis advised on the sale of Recognition Music Group's catalog to Sony Music Publishing, a deal reportedly valued between $3.5 billion and $4 billion. That catalog included "Don't Stop Believin'," "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which is to say, a meaningful percentage of what Americans hear whether they wish to or not.

John Branca, the longtime steward of the Michael Jackson estate, was cited for his role in the biopic "Michael," which has crossed $1 billion in global ticket sales. Mr. Branca took the estate from $500 million in debt to approximately $3.5 billion in revenue, a turnaround that would be impressive even if it did not involve moonwalking.

(One attorney, asked about the biggest challenge facing the industry, cited "failing to act collectively." This is advice that lawyers have been giving clients since approximately 1850.)

The list suggests that the music business, for all its talk of streaming disruption and generative chaos, remains a place where enormous sums change hands in an orderly fashion, provided the paperwork is handled correctly. The attorneys, at least, appear to be doing well.

Original story published in The Hollywood Reporter: "The 55 Legal Heavyweights Behind the Hitmakers"