Ken Abdo: Attorney of the Year

3/18/2010

“What do an entertainment lawyer who helped launch the career of a 20-something Owatonna man to the top of the Billboard charts, the deputy general counsel at one of the country’s leading biomedical manufacturing companies who is also a competitive horse rider and the four men who prosecuted the largest fraud cases in the history of Minnesota have in common?

They all have law degrees and they join more than 20 attorneys selected by Minnesota Lawyer as an Attorney of the Year for 2009.”

Minnesota Lawyer - February 22, 2010


Lommen Abdo’s Ken Abdo was selected by Minnesota Lawyer as a 2009 Attorney of the Year, a select group of attorneys who distinguished themselves during the year through their accomplishments. The criteria for selection included leadership in the profession, involvement in major cases or other newsworthy events, excellence in corporate or transactional services and public service. Ken had a remarkable year in 2009. Among his many professional accomplishments were:
  • negotiating a recording agreement for local music group Owl City that helped it top the charts with a #1 single, #1 video and #1 download;
  • helping well-known musician Jonny Lang start his own independent record company;
  • successfully renegotiating the entire recorded music catalog rights for Three Dog Night; and
  • negotiating a recording agreement for Jim Brickman, which resulted in a hit song that reached #1 on the New Age chart and a concert televised on PBS.

All told, Ken worked on recording projects for various music artists, including Lang, Brickman, Booker T. Jones and Hall & Oates, that resulted in six Grammy nominations last year.

Ken, a shareholder and chair of the Entertainment Practice Group at Lommen Abdo, says he has no regrets about not relocating his entertainment practice to media meccas like Los Angeles, New York or Nashville. He believes he’s now got the best of both worlds — the Minnesota quality of life coupled with a first-class entertainment practice.

Ken is also a leader both in the entertainment bar and industry. He recently completed a term as chair of the 5,000-member American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries. He also presides as CLE Program Chair at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas — the largest music festival in the United States. Additionally, he served as national chair for Grammy Foundation’s Entertainment Law Initiative. Locally, Abdo has been a driving force behind the Entertainment Law Symposium in Minneapolis, an annual event started in 2008.

Read more about the award.

Ken Abdo can be contacted at ken@lommen.com or 612-336-9316.