Sonia Borella
Media and Corporate Partner, Holding Redlich

Photo: Sonia and her mentor Ian Robertson (Managing Partner, Holding Redlich and Deputy Chair, Screen Australia)

Having at one time considered training to become a professional ballet dancer and with a continuing deep interest in the arts, film and television, Sonia Borella felt at home the moment she arrived as a summer clerk at Holding Redlich’s offices in Sydney. The firm has a tradition of being associated with the arts, media and entertainment.

Immediately after she graduated in May 2000 Sonia joined the firm as a lawyer and seven years later became the first partner in the Sydney office to have joined the firm as a summer clerk. Sonia specialises in corporate, media and entertainment, intellectual property, information technology and trade practices law. Her clients include television and radio licensees, production and post-production companies, and advertising and media buying agencies.

Now a partner, Sonia is an occasional lecturer at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and performs pro bono work as a volunteer lawyer at the Arts Law Centre and she is a member of various media and entertainment organisations, including Ausfilm, the Screen Producers Association of Australia and the Communications and Media Law Association of Australia. In other words she has come a long way since she arrived at Holding Redlich in 1998 while studying for law and commerce degrees at The Australian National University.

Sonia is constantly fascinated by the variety of work she does. For example, she recently acted for Macquarie Media Group (MMG) in the sale of 19 regional commercial radio broadcasting licences by Macquarie Southern Cross Media. She also recently acted for Fremantle Media in the sale of its interest in the subscription television channel UKTV and for Sony DADC in its purchase of the physical distribution business of Universal Music. Shortly before those transactions Sonia was acting for an Australian animation studio on a three-way official international co-production between Australia, Canada and Singapore while advising an advertising agency client on the engagement of Jackie Chan to promote Visa during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Lecturing at AFTRS represents another aspect of her interest in film and television and her life as a partner in a law firm. She invariably finds lecturing stimulating. “I always look forward to lecturing to students in the AFTRS producers courses because the people are so interesting and diverse. External AFTRS courses participants have included writers, actors and others working in the industry who want to become producers, in addition to the internal producing students. A range of areas are generally covered including copyright and moral rights, option agreements, writer, director and other cast and crew contracts, and sales, distribution and other exploitation. My pro bono advice to members of the Arts Law Centre often covers similar topics.”

Sonia is quick to state that she has gained enormous benefits from being mentored by Ian Robertson, the managing partner of Holding Redlich’s Sydney office and partner in the corporate and media practice.
“In the last eight years I have gained enormous benefits from being mentored by Ian Robertson, the Managing Partner of Holding Redlich, Sydney office. Ian has always been available to offer advice, discuss any problems I encountered, comment on my progress and help me decide on the direction of my career. I’m convinced that mentoring played a significant role in my appointment of Partner of Holding Redlich, shortly after my 30th Birthday.”

As a partner Sonia is now a mentor for other members of the firm.
“I really enjoy mentoring other people. Everybody is different and people react to being mentored in a variety of ways.”

Sonia is excited at the prospect of becoming involved with, and Holding Redlich being the legal sponsor for the WIFT NSW’s Media Mentorship for Women Program. She says:

“Many women in the film and television industry are freelancers who have little opportunity to benefit from mentoring. The WIFT Media Mentorship for Women Program has the potential to make a significant difference to those women and the film and television industry.”