Steven Shapiro Opening Remarks | Power of Law
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00:00Good morning. I am delighted to be here with all of you today.
00:04On behalf of City National Bank, I'd like to congratulate all of the outstanding honorees that are here today.
00:11I want to thank Variety for organizing this annual celebration of the legal community
00:17and all of you who are so fundamentally important to the entertainment industry.
00:23I also want to recognize the entire Variety team, Deya, Michelle, Donna, Mary, Natasha, Ramin, Victoria, and especially Lindsay,
00:35for being the number one entertainment news platform.
00:41You are a crucial partner for the industry and for City National Bank.
00:47City National Bank has sponsored this event since its inception eight years ago.
00:53We have a long history of banking and supporting the entertainment industry.
00:58For more than 70 years, serving the entertainment industry has been intricately linked to our heritage, legacy, and who we are.
01:08We take pride in our highly personalized service and keeping clients at the center of everything that we do.
01:16At City National, we continue to build solutions and deepen our partnerships with those in the entertainment industry and beyond.
01:24But as we evolve and expand some things, we will always stay the same, especially our values and our commitment to serving our communities.
01:33Like so many of our legal impact honorees today, we at City National are passionate about giving back to our communities.
01:42We support many of the organizations that are the lifeblood of this industry, like the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the Grammy Museum, Motion Picture and Television Fund,
01:52Project Angel Food, Broadway Cares, the Entertainment Community Fund, and Music Cares, just to name a few.
01:59As the largest bank headquartered in Los Angeles, we are also here for our communities during critical times.
02:08In the immediate aftermath of the wildfires that hit our communities, City National, together with our parent company, RBC, donated $3 million to support the relief efforts.
02:21We know that we have an important role in helping to address the immediate needs, as well as the long-term work that it will take to rebuild our beloved communities, like Altadena and the Palisades.
02:34We know that our bank can only be as strong as the communities that we serve.
02:40That belief is core to who we are as an organization.
02:43In that same spirit, I'd like to congratulate our honoree, Daryl Miller.
02:49His commitment to serving the community and advancing diversity in entertainment is remarkable.
02:56Congratulations, Daryl, for your outstanding accomplishments.
02:59But now I need to get serious for just a moment.
03:10You know, I didn't always want to be a banker.
03:15I actually really wanted to be a lawyer.
03:19Because I watched Perry Mason.
03:23And Perry Mason made it look like the most interesting job in the world, and frankly, the easiest job in the world.
03:33Every case could be solved in 60 minutes, including commercials.
03:42Evidence could conveniently appear whenever it was needed.
03:45You would always face a DA who always picked the wrong person to prosecute and always lost.
03:53The protagonist knew exactly which witness would crumble on the stand.
04:02But Perry Mason wasn't just about winning cases.
04:04He was doing what was right.
04:07Standing up for the innocent and ensuring that justice was more than just a word.
04:14Who wouldn't want to enter a profession like that?
04:19These were all traits that I wanted, too.
04:21But when I found out how hard it was to actually become a lawyer,
04:26and that 60 minutes wasn't necessarily long enough to actually win a case,
04:32and that Della Street, Perry's brilliant and insightful secretary, had retired,
04:38I chose the profession that was next best, a banker.
04:42And I wanted to try to emulate my other iconic image on TV, Milton Drysdale.
04:49Yes, you know him, Jed Clampett's banker.
04:57But I'm grateful for the opportunity to work alongside so many of you
05:01who do the right thing for your clients each and every day.
05:06On behalf of City National Bank's entertainment and sports banking business,
05:12Jahan Wang, our remarkable manager, and all of my colleagues here today,
05:18congratulations again to all of this year's top entertainment and media lawyers.
05:22I thank you very much.
05:24Thank you very much.