By Andrew Cohen
It doesn’t take long for recent UC Berkeley Law grads to climb the ranks and make a meaningful impact early in their wide-ranging careers. We periodically highlight standout alums who are shining across various practice areas in profiles that amplify what drew them to their current work, what they enjoy most about it, and their path to success.
As entertainment outlets expand at warp speed, so do rewarding legal opportunities. Working in Athens, Greece, as a legal manager at Kaizen Gaming — a global game-tech company operating in over 20 countries — Eleni Anagnostopoulou LL.M. ’19 relishes playing a part in shaping its intellectual property strategy across diverse markets.
“Entertainment law is becoming increasingly global, mirroring the industry’s own transformation,” she says. “The explosion of digital media, social media, and streaming platforms has erased many traditional borders that once defined content production and distribution. Today, a show developed in Seoul can become a global hit overnight, and legal teams must be ready to navigate a complex web of international laws, cross-border agreements, and cultural nuances.”
Growing up, Anagnostopoulou says “books, plays, television series, video games, and pretty much anything creative would absolutely bewitch me.” When she decided to study law, “there was absolutely no question in my mind I had to specialize in an area that would allow me to be part of this creative universe, albeit under a different role — not so much creating myself, but rather safeguarding the creativity of others.”
Energized by working in an ever-changing digital landscape, she says new mediums and forms of expression are born every day. Anagnostopoulou focuses on regulation and disruptive innovation in digital media, and the role media and intellectual property (IP) law can play in striking the perfect balance.
Her work at Kaizen has involved strategic direction on compliance related to contractual, legal and regulatory obligations regarding IP legislation, including managing the company’s global trademark portfolio and advising internal stakeholders.
She now drafts and negotiates high-profile commercial agreements and handles sponsorships, content production, advertising, and influencer contracts, ensuring compliance while integrating legal protection with Kaizen’s business goals. Every day brings a new platform, content delivery mode, or production format — each pushing the boundaries of long-established legal definitions for originality, authorship, and ownership.
“NFTs, deepfakes, or the viral trend of AI-generated Studio Ghibli-style images, these are more than novelties; they’re groundbreaking shifts that challenge the very foundations of IP doctrines,” she says. “For legal advisers in this space, staying current isn’t enough. You must stay curious, agile, imaginative, and always ready to think out of the box. You must approach each innovation with the mindset of a creator and consumer first to grasp these new concepts, and as a lawyer second to interpret how they fit into an already complex IP law matrix.”
A valuable year in Berkeley
Anagnostopoulou credits her LL.M. Program year in Berkeley for vaulting her career — in particular the vibrant setting with students from all over the world that provided a strong international network of accomplished lawyers and accelerated her professional and personal development, and the optimal mix of theoretical knowledge and practical experience she gained.
“My time at Berkeley was spectacular,” she says. “Interacting with people from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, while being in California at the heart of innovation, is a unique combination that allows your mind to expand and work at 100 miles an hour without losing sight of the human aspect that should always guide a lawyer’s work. The clinics, moot courts, and chances for internships, combined with the unique fact that classes are taught by both members of academia as well as from extraordinary practitioners working on the field, gives you a much more rounded and comprehensive understanding of the industry and your future role in it.”
Anagnostopoulou parlayed that experience into a media lawyer and production counsel job at Star Channel, part of a large Greek media group that focuses on news and entertainment content. She drafted and negotiated development and production contracts, license agreements with major studios, and rebroadcasting agreements, and advised on risk levels related to copyright, trademark, defamation, invasion of privacy, and other legal claims.
With constant technological advancements creating rapid changes in the digital media field and posing notable challenges to legal advisors, Anagnostopoulou faces a delicate balancing act between safeguarding the truth without sacrificing the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
“For our clients, the risks are far from theoretical. A single false narrative can damage reputations, derail deals and jeopardize entire careers,” she says. “In an industry where public perception is the most important part of the deal, disinformation can make an entire collaboration crumble to pieces. Part of our job as entertainment lawyers is anticipating potential fallout, acting swiftly when needed, and creating legal frameworks that protect both people and creative work.”
But the role of lawyers in this fight goes far beyond crisis response, she adds, noting that lawyers must safeguard integrity in spaces where the truth is continually tested. She calls defending truth in a system built to protect speech of all kinds “the challenge our generation has been tasked with resolving” and says as the digital landscape continues to evolve, “this aspect of our work will only become more critical.”
Having lived in Greece, Belgium, and the United States, Anagnostopoulou has expanded her legal perspective while learning how to think across systems, listen across cultures, and spot both risks and opportunities others might miss.
“At its core, global legal work requires empathy and adaptability. The ability to understand how a contract will land not just legally, but culturally, is often what makes or breaks a deal,” she says. “That’s the edge international experience brings, and it’s something Berkeley Law fosters so naturally. We’re trained to look beyond the obvious, to connect dots across disciplines and borders, and to bring light — creative, informed, nuanced light — to complex challenges.”