Hollywood lawyer Bert Fields works both sides of studio lot.

More than 40 years of litigating cases and not a single lost trial L.A. entertainment attorney Bert Fields has the bragging rights to a remarkable winning streak.

Not surprisingly, clients pay big bucks for such good odds. Fields currently commands an hourly rate of $650 from his long roster of high-profile clients, which includes both studios and individuals who sue those same studios.

One client featured prominently in Fields' docket these days is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Walt Disney Co. executive who is now suing the Burbank-based company, claiming he is owed more than $250 million in unpaid incentive bonuses.

Fields, 67, asserts that Katzenberg, along with Michael Eisner, turned Disney around. "Jeffrey made a huge contribution and should be rewarded for it," he says.

It's all part of the glitzy, high-priced and rather select world of entertainment law, in which Fields is considered to be in a class by himself. That's largely because, unlike other attorneys in the field who are closely aligned to either the studios or the talent, he is aligned to both.

Fields moves seamlessly from argument to argument, supporting the talent, then the producers, then the studios.

"I can pretty well get myself worked into the belief that my client is right. Generally, situations in life are not black and white. Generally. arguments can be made from both sides," said Fields when the Business Journal sat down with him recently in his Century City office two spacious wood-paneled rooms, one with a large antique wood desk where he fashions these arguments.

"To be persuasive as an attorney, you have to believe the position you're taking is correct," said Gall Migdal Title, an entertainment attorney who represents several studios as managing partner of Katten Muchin & Zavis. "Bert is so effective because he can convince himself that his clients' positions are right."

Fields' 40-year unbroken winning streak began in 1952 when, fresh out of Harvard Law, he entered military service and began handling court martials, representing both defendants and the military. After leaving the service, Fields says he got his hands on any trial work he could, mostly doing divorces and criminal work.

He soon soured on the routine. "After a while, I realized I was playing this great game that was a lot of fun for me, but basically what I was doing was getting a lot of guilty people off," said Fields.

The turning point came when one of his clients killed someone after Fields had gotten him acquitted on an earlier criminal charge.

Fields instead decided that "good clean money (is) more fun to fight about" and began to focus on the entertainment work coming his way - handling litigation matters for young actors, writers and directors and eventually representing them in contract negotiations.

As Fields's reputation grew, studios recognized his skills and began to call on the attorney who had successfully sued them so many times in the past.

Fields, now a partner at Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger, has represented almost every studio in town. A notable exception is Disney, against which Fields says he has seven suits pending.

One studio official noted that "if you want someone who doesn't look like a studio mouthpiece, you hire Bert."

Fields offers evidence to support that assertion: "I've sued Universal and represented them. I've sued Warner Bros. and represented them."

Given the potential for conflict, Fields routinely gets a waiver from the studios, allowing him to represent anyone in negotiating with them and to even represent existing clients in litigating against them. Fields points out, though, that he has never actually litigated for and against a studio at the same time (though he could under terms of the letters).

Fields's busy practice requires that he put in about 3,000 to 3,500 hours a year - getting to work by 7:30 a.m. and leaving around 8:30 at night.

He's also a writer. He has authored two novels under the pen name D. Kincaid - both "sex trash adventure stories about a lawyer" - and is now working on a history of King Richard III.

He began the King Richard book, he said, when his 95-year-old father finished reading Fields' second book and asked his son, "This is fine, but when are you going to do something serious with your life?"

His wife, Barbara Guggenheim, is busy in her own right - as an art consultant to the stars. In fact, the couple met when Guggenheim was looking for someone to represent her in a dispute with Sylvester Stallone.

Because Guggenheim works out of an office in New York, the couple often meets on the east coast - Fields's work takes him to the city from time to time.

Mostly, though, it's L.A. where Fields' must center his practice. That's because so many of his clients are marquee names.

Most attorneys interviewed agreed that Fields is aggressive and demanding - and able to take extreme positions because of his personality and reputation.

"He'll push the envelope, but he's always charming," said one attorney who asked not to be named.

Fields admits he has taken positions that others might back away from. Two years ago, he resigned from representing Michael Jackson in the child molestation case. Fields refused to give specific reasons for his resignation, but says he was opposed to Jackson's decision to settle the claim.

And he notes he would have taken a stand that other attorneys may not have taken. "I wanted to litigate it, and I would have litigated it. I felt he would have won the civil case and the criminal case," said Fields.

As strongly as he makes his own arguments, Fields also appreciates the moves of his opponents - in what he calls "a great highly complex chess game."

He recounted with pleasure the tactics used by opposing counsel in a case he handled for writer Mario Puzo, author of "The Godfather."

Puzo had written the screenplay for the original "Superman" movie, and he sued the movie's producers, arguing that they were withholding his share of the gross receipts.

In connection with the lawsuit, Fields went to Venice, Italy to take a deposition. When opposing counsel insisted that the deposition instead be taken in Barbados, Fields called it harassment and threatened to seek sanctions.

Fields eventually took the deposition in Barbados - in his bathing suit on a lawn overlooking the sea. "They (opposing counsel) rushed out and took my picture and blew it up (for the judge), saying, 'This is Mr. Fields being harassed' - which I thought was very good."

Fields says he has gotten to a point where he can be selective about the cases he takes - and he doesn't plan on bailing out any time soon. "Fun is very important, and I've had a great deal of fun over these some 40 years I've been doing this, and I'm still having a lot of fun."

So much fun, in fact, that Fields has turned down several offers to head up a studio. While his decision on one of the offers was "very close," he decided that he prefers the independence of practicing law.

"I'd rather set my own schedule, decide on my own agenda rather than work for somebody else or report to a board," he said.