Dewey & LeBoeuf

L. Londell McMillan

Partner

L. Londell McMillan is a partner at the international law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf. Mr. McMillan practices in the law of business and commercial transactions, litigation, communications, intellectual property, and government affairs. Mr. McMillan’s elite client list includes legendary artists, professional sports clients, authors, executives and businesses in the communications, media, entertainment, retail and real estate industries. Over the years, McMillan has represented artists and celebrities, such as the late Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Roberta Flack, L.L. Cool J, Kanye West, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Spike Lee, Russell Simmons and many other notables. In addition, Mr. McMillan has also represented media clients such as Mercedes Benz, the New York Times, Screenvision, the Source Magazine and Radio One on entertainment matters.

In 2008, Mr. McMillan was named as one of The National Law Journal’s 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America with Eric Holder, Vernon Jordan and Harvard Prof. Charles Ogeltree among others, and in 2007 he was recognized as one of New York’s Super Lawyers, a distinguished honor for top lawyers in New York State. He was a recipient of the prestigious MBBA Haywood W. Burns, Lawyer of the Year Award in 2001 and featured on the cover of the Black Enterprise Magazine December 2003 issue. Mr. McMillan was honored alongside Kenneth Chenault, Stanley O’Neal and Richard Parsons among Crain’s 100 Most Powerful Minority Leaders in 2003. Mr. McMillan is the Executive Publisher of the new and re-focused legendary Source Magazine, a division of the Source Media Worldwide. He is also one of the co-owners and partners with real-estate developer Bruce Ratner and Hip Hop icon Jay-Z in the New Jersey Nets NBA team and the Atlantic Yards development, a major mixed-use commercial, retail and residential development intended to bring the New Jersey Nets to his hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Mr. McMillan is also active in development projects with affiliation to the arts, entertainment or sports world.

Prior to joining Dewey & LeBoeuf, Mr. McMillan was the Founder and Chairman of The McMillan Firm, which became one of the largest minority-owned law firms in New York State. Before founding The McMillan Firm, Mr. McMillan worked with the prominent entertainment and commercial litigation law firm of Gold, Farrell & Marks. During Mr. McMillan’s earlier years, he practiced corporate and media law at the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, L.L.P., where he counseled multi-media companies (i.e., Time-Warner Cable and The Discovery Channel), private and publicly-held corporations and financial institutions.

Mr. McMillan was born in the Tompkins project houses of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; he is a graduate of Brooklyn Technical high school, the School for Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, and New York University School of Law. Mr. McMillan is an honors graduate and Academic All American mentioned student-athlete who played on the Cornell University football team. While in law school, Mr. McMillan was the Northeast Regional Director of the National Black Law Students Association. He is admitted to practice law in the States of New York and Connecticut. Mr. McMillan has served on the Alumni Council of Cornell Board of Trustees at Cornell University as well as alumni boards at New York University School of Law. In December 1989, Mr. McMillan was the co-founder of the New York City Minority Roundtable for large corporate law firms, in association with the Bar Association of the City of New York. Mr. McMillan is a faculty member with the Practicing Law Institute; lecturer and featured subject of the distinguished Harvard Business School Case Study; and author of numerous published legal articles and periodicals. Mr. McMillan is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York State Bar Association. Mr. McMillan has been a guest and commentator on the Oprah Winfrey Show and is regularly invited to appear on television and radio programs as well as participates in forums, conferences and government hearings to share his insight and commentary regarding the business and impact of entertainment, media and sports.

An advocate of civil and artists' rights, Mr. McMillan is General Counsel of NAACP, Brooklyn Chapter and the General Counsel and co-founder for the Artist Empowerment Coalition (AEC), a non-profit coalition of artists, musicians, performers, songwriters, educators and civic advocates, organized to use the gift and creation of music, art and culture to educate children, revitalize the community, as well as promote changes in the relationships between artists and companies that exploit their creative works.

Selected Activities

Co-founder, Large Law Firm Minority Roundtable, 1989
Co-founder, Artist Empowerment Coalition, 2004-2007
Faculty, Practicing Law Institute, Entertainment 2003-2005
General Counsel, NAACP, Brooklyn Branch, 2006-2007
Member, American Bar Association
Member, Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Member, New Jersey Nets
Member, New York City Bar Association
Member, New York State Bar Association
Member, International Bar Association
Participant, 110 U.S. Congress Orientation, 2006

Awards and Recognitions

The National Law Journal, 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America, (May 26, 2008)
Recognized as one of the New York Super Lawyers for Entertainment Law (2007)
Corporate Award, 2005, New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Inc.
Harvard Business School Case Study, 2005, featured subject and lecturer
Lifetime Achievement Award in the Music Industry, 2005, Medgar Evers College CUNY
Founder's Award, 2004, Mercedes Benz
America's Top Black Lawyers, Black Enterprise Magazine 2003
Best & Brightest Under 40, Black Enterprise Magazine 2003
40 Under 40, Crain's New York Business, 2001
Lawyer of the Year, 2001, MBBA Hayward W. Burns
Navigator of the Year Award, 2001, Direction for Our Youth, Inc.
Innovator of the Year Award, 2000, National Rainbow Coalition
New York University School of Law Alumni Service Award