Dava Casoni, ICT’s Legal Advisor, was named Public Counsel of the Year by The Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel (AMEC), an 18-year-old organization with more than 14,000 in-house counsel and business executives from studios, networks, Guilds, talent agencies and major media and entertainment companies. This year’s awards ceremony took place on January 18th, 2024, at the Westdrift Hotel, Manhattan Beach, CA.
Before presenting her with the award, Steve Yamaguchi, Senior Counsel, USC Office of the General Counsel, called Dava Casoni “A true force multiplier” saying “Both my office and the ICT are extremely fortunate to have this immensely bright and talented attorney who combines her impressive background as a former Army officer with her extensive legal training and expertise to serve as ICT’s in-house legal and policy advisor.”
Dava Casoni joined ICT in 2011, after a successful career as an attorney with senior roles at international law firms including Pillsbury (founded in 1868) and Milbank LLP (founded 1866), before founding her own boutique firm, Casoni Law, in 2009. She received her JD and LLM in General and International Law from Cornell Law School in 1996 and has substantial experience in negotiating and drafting complex transactions, financing, IP protection, and compliance matters, particularly in government and industry sponsored university research.
Alongside her legal role at ICT, Dava Casoni also leads (with Navy Captain and TV writer Ric Arthur) the Force Writers Room, which brings multi-disciplinary expertise, Hollywood creativity and proven “TV writers room” techniques to strategically analyze and visualize the future, enabling warfighters to examine “unknowns” within a highly imaginative narrative framework.
Receiving the award, Casoni said: “It is an honor to be part of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies team, advancing the state of the art in technologies that will train, heal and support the brave men and women who step up to serve our country.”
In her acceptance speech Casoni talked about her career trajectory so far, and honored those who have made a meaningful impact in her life, including her boss, Cheryl Birch, ICT’s Director of Finance, Operations and HR “who made it a priority throughout her career to make sure I had meaningful opportunities to develop, shine and advance in mine.”
She also paid tribute to Captain Ric Arthur, co-lead and showrunner of the Force Writers Room, who received an AMEC award for Excellence in Creative Innovation for National Security that evening. “Ric has a ceaseless calling to make the future better and safer for our country and our warfighters and is innately compelled to deliver and demand only the best of the best.”
As the ceremony began, all honorees were presented with a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Los Angeles from Councilwoman Traci Parks.
