Michael Schlesinger

Michael Schlesinger is the Vice President & Regional Legal Counsel, Asia Pacific for the Motion Picture Association. In this role, he oversees all legal matters for the organization region-wide.  A recognized expert in international copyright and trade law, Michael joined the MPA in 2015 following a longstanding career in private practice, including acting as a lead counsel to the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a private sector coalition, formed in 1984, of trade associations representing U.S. copyright- based industries working to improve international protection and enforcement of copyrighted materials and to open foreign markets closed by piracyandothermarketaccess barriers.  Michael represented an alliance of associations and companies that helped develop and win the first-ever World Trade Organization cases brought by the United States related to intellectual property rights protection and market access barriers in the People’s Republic of China. Michael also served as an adjunct Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University School of Law, was on the faculty of the Max Planck Institute’s Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), is widely published, and has spoken frequently around the world to raise awareness and understanding about copyright. Michael is an avid musician and songwriter. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia.