044: The Pyramid of Success: Hollywood Power Lawyer, Neville Johnson

Neville Johnson is one of the most revered lawyers in Hollywood. As founding partner of the law office Johnson & Johnson, LLP, he is a man who fights tooth and nail for his clients. The Los Angeles Times has called him ‘one of the most feared litigators in Hollywood.’  On today’s show, we talk about books, music and success the John Wooden way! Save Transcript: Today’s guest is a founding partner at the law office of Johnson and Johnson and they’re located in Beverly Hills. He’s one of the most feared litigators in Hollywood. And he’s wrinkled more than 300 and $50 million for actors, writers and other clients that he contends were shortchanged their fair share of royalties and profits. So I have to tell you that when I first got on the phone with our guests today, I was a little apprehensive, right? I mean, it’s a little scary, because that’s a lot going on really successful guy. And I had him on the show to talk specifically about some books that he wrote. But what I found was that he is so interesting, not scary at all. And really a wonderful, creative person. And I’m really excited to share this interview with you, where we talk a little bit more about what really success is. So I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed interviewing. Here we go. Welcome to the art of living big, my name is Betsy Pake, entrepreneur, author and personal success coach. This is the show that brings you stories and small ideas to help you live a big life. I hope this once a week podcast will inspire you, motivate you and encourage you to think differently about what could be possible for your life. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let’s go live big. All right, everybody. Welcome to the art of living big I am here with my friend Neville Johnson. Hey, Neville, thanks for being with us. Thank you for having me. So tell everybody a little bit about yourself. I’m sort of obsessed with you. I think that you’re really cool. But I want you to tell everybody a little bit about you and what you do and in and kind of how we found each other here. Well, my daily job is as an attorney, I’m in Beverly Hills, California, and I have nine lawyers at my law firm and we specialize in the entertainment business in the media business. Typically we’re representing talent. And case we just filed a got notoriety or fame was we represent Sylvester Stallone and we sued Warner Brothers pictures for underpayment on one of his movies. So I’ve been doing that for a long time, entertainment, a lot of litigation and also in the music industry. And on the side, I have a book company that I started about 20 years ago, when I wrote the Authorized Biography of the greatest coach in the history of sports. His name is john wooden. And he was also a philosopher and I was very interested in his philosophy. So that became a best seller. And more recently, I put out a book called wooden isms, which is a collection of his sayings and aphorisms. And last year, I put out a book of poetry that 160 or so love bombs to my wife, Cindy, and also, I lead a band, and I am Trevor McShane, the recording artists, and you can see me on YouTube and I write songs and play guitar and sing live. I love it. So I mostly love this is what I love is that you’re like, you’re very serious. When we first started to talk, when we did like sort of a pre talk before this, like you’re very serious. But then I could see this little glimmer of like a smile, a little glimmer in your eye. And really, you’re superduper creative, like you have this whole, like creative side to you, which, you know, my husband’s an attorney, and we talked about that for a minute.