Bertram Harris Fields (March 31, 1929 – August 7, 2022) was an American lawyer noted for his work in the field of entertainment law. He represented many of the leading film studios, as well as numerous celebrities, and lectured at both Stanford and Harvard Law Schools. Fields was also a musician and an author of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Early life and legal career
Fields was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Mildred (Rubin), a ballet dancer, and F. Maxwell Fields, an eye surgeon. His family was Jewish. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1949, and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) in 1952. He was a member of the California and New York Bars. Fields' notable clients included Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Warren Beatty, James Cameron, Mike Nichols, Joel Silver, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Mario Puzo, and John Travolta.
Fields represented George Lucas in contract negotiations with The Walt Disney Company regarding Disney theme parks. He also represented Paramount Pictures in its appeal of the Buchwald v. Paramount case over Coming to America, and in other civil litigation. He represented Jeffrey Katzenberg in a landmark action against Disney, and also obtained a multimillion-dollar judgement for George Harrison against his former business manager. Representing DreamWorks SKG and Steven Spielberg, he defeated an application for an injunction against exhibition of Amistad.
Fields also represented Michael Jackson during contract talks with Sony Music, in the early 1990s and during the 1993 child molestation allegations made against Jackson.
Fields defended the Church of Scientology after many of its celebrity members, including Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Chick Corea, were boycotted in Germany, where the religion is not legally recognized. He wrote an open letter to Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the International Herald Tribune comparing the boycotts to Nazi book burnings.
Fields represented Bob and Harvey Weinstein through years of skirmishes between Miramax and its corporate owner, Disney, rarely making public statements until he arranged the brothers' departure, in 2005, without litigation.
In January 2008, Fields, representing Tom Cruise, stated that an unauthorized biography (by British author Andrew Morton) was full of "tired old lies" or "sick stuff."
In June 2008, Drew Pinsky, in an interview for Playboy, mentioned his belief that for Tom Cruise to be "drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology," he was likely to have emotional problems. He said "To me, that's a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood — maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect." Fields, representing Cruise, responded by calling Pinsky an "unqualified television performer" and likened him to Nazi Joseph Goebbels, saying, "He seems to be spewing the absurdity that all Scientologists are mentally ill. The last time we heard garbage like this was from Joseph Goebbels." Pinsky, a licensed physician of Jewish ancestry, responded through his representative, "Dr. Drew meant no harm to Mr. Cruise and apologizes if his comments were hurtful." The statement continued, "Although Mr. Fields's intent is clearly to slander and discredit Dr. Drew, under no circumstances is Dr. Drew making a blanket diagnosis about Scientology nor Mr. Cruise whom he does not know. Dr. Drew was simply using Mr. Cruise as an example of someone who is recognizable to help the public understand. Again, Dr. Drew meant him no harm."
On March 13, 2012, Bert Fields, attorney for the estate of Mario Puzo, filed a counterclaim against Paramount Pictures, who sued the estate to stop the author's son, Anthony Puzo, from publishing a new sequel to his father's classic Mafia saga, "The Godfather." Fields was quoted as saying, "Mario Puzo brought vast wealth to Paramount at a time when they desperately needed it. Now that he's gone, Paramount's trying to deprive his children of the rights he specifically reserved. I promised Mario I'd protect his kids from this kind of reprehensible conduct. Paramount wanted a war, and they're going to get one."
In April 2014, Harvard Law School announced that Fields made a gift of $5 million to Harvard Law School to endow the Bertram Fields Professorship of Law.