Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has hired Jill Ratner as executive vice president and general counsel, effective May 28. Ratner will join Sony Pictures from The Walt Disney Company, where she has been deputy general counsel since 2019.
At Disney, she has global responsibility for the company’s litigation, intellectual property (IP) and digital anti-piracy functions and leads legal support for the company’s social responsibility operations. According to an SPE announcement, her experience includes copyright, trademark, First Amendment, contract disputes, employment, antitrust, securities and class action matters.  Â
In her new role, Ratner will oversee SPE’s legal, compliance and labor relations functions, SPE music affairs, government/external affairs and CSR teams. She will report to SPE chair and CEO Tony Vinciquerra.
Before joining Disney, Ratner spent 15 years at 21st Century Fox, where she most recently was executive vice president and deputy general counsel. During her time with the company she led global litigation, employment, IP, privacy and content protection legal teams supporting operations including the film and television studios, digital media properties, the broadcast television network, sports and entertainment cable networks and their multi-platform assets.
She was previously domestic counsel at the Motion Picture Association and a litigation associate at law firms Hogan Lovells and Hill Wynne Troop & Meisinger.
Vinciquerra says in a statement: ‘Jill has a well-earned reputation as a trusted, results-driven adviser and legal strategist and we are thrilled to have her join SPE as general counsel. Having successfully led large legal teams at two of Hollywood’s biggest studio businesses during times of extraordinary change and transition, Jill is extremely well suited for this role. We look forward to having her wise counsel and advice to help us meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving industry landscape and to capitalize on opportunities for growth.’