As a senior partner of Fenton, Nederlander & Dodge for twenty-five years, Robert L. Fenton was one of the earliest sports attorney agents and became one of the most prominent entertainment lawyers in America. He has represented such celebrity clients as Roger Maris, Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, Rick Upchurch, Mel Farr, Orel Hershiser, The Frigid Pink, Detroit Wheels, Bob Welch, George Best, Marilyn Turner, J. P. McCarthy and many more other national and international athletes, song composers such as Sammy Fain – “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” etc. radio and television personalities and authors throughout the world. He participated in some of the early legal decisions involving athletes that ultimately wound up as sports law in this country.
In the early 1970s, Mr. Fenton indicated an interest, at the suggestion of several of his clients, in the film business and became an executive producer in Hollywood and funded such films as Edgar Rice Burroughs "The Land That Time Forgot" which was distributed by Orion, 'The Incredible Melting Man', "Fyre" which was distributed by Fries Entertainment, Inc., Joan Collins "Homework" which was distributed by Orion and "Invasion Earth: They Came From Outer Space", a New World distribution. In the early 1980s, he became deeply involved in the production of films and was a producer at both 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios for several years. During his years out in California, he produced and distributed a number of successful films.
In conjunction with his film activities, early in the 1980s, he became involved in the development of film material and funded the writing of seven books that were sold to New York main-stream publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Putnam & Sons, William Morrow & Company, St. Martin's Press, etc. Eventually, a number of them were made into feature films. He was also a literary agent for numerous authors over the years many of them best sellers.
In October of 1988, Fenton produced the NBC Movie of the Week, 'Double Standard", which earned the largest market share of any TV film in the prior two seasons. His most recent film venture was' Woman on the Ledge', also a two-hour Movie of the Week for NBC. This MOW was aired on Monday, March 15, 1993 and was the highest rated TV movie of the year.
In 1988, Mr. Fenton added another dimension to his career and wrote his first book with a writing partner. His first novel, "Black Tie Only", was published by Contemporary Books, Inc. in April, 1 990 under the nom de plume of Julia Fenton. This novel was chosen as the Main Selection of both the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club for the fall of 1990. Mr. Fenton and his partner completed their second novel, "Blue Orchids', and it was published by the Putnam/Berkley Publishing Group in July of 1992. In addition, their third novel, "Royal Invitation”, was also published by the Putnam/ Berkley Group in February, 1995. After four years of research, Mr. Fenton has just completed the outline for his next book, SPEAKEASY.
He has also been a guest lecturer, Entertainment Law Seminar, University of Michigan Law School, April, 1998; and has conducted several Writer’s Workshops aboard the Holland America Cruise Lines for Writer’s Digest publication. Mr. Fenton was first elected to Who's Who in America in 1976 and Who's Who in the World in 1980 and has been reelected each year thereafter. Presently, Mr. Fenton is an adjunct professor for Marygrove College in Detroit and teaches Creative Writing, also as part of Ford Motor and UAW educational program, 2002-2004.