Your Legal Advisors
I was a music major in college. Bassoon. Our paths diverged, yours and mine, when you decided to become a professional artist. I chose a different route and assumed a supporting role: I became your attorney. (That is of course rhetorical if I am not, actually, your attorney....)
As an artist (and by that I mean any kind of artist: visual, performing, literary, escape
) you should have an attorney on your team. You need that attorney because you are an artist, yes but also because you live in the world. Everyone faces legal issues. Do you have a will? A financial power of attorney? A health care advance directive? Do you have children? A home? An attack dog?
If you are like most people, these issues are a perpetual thorn in your psyche. You know you should be responsible, take care of business, get your affairs in order. But you put it off. You procrastinate. You expend more energy on excuses than you would on taking action. It is senseless to waste your energy on such worries. Let the attorney on your team take care of these issues so you can devote full attention to your career.
Of course, you also have legal needs unique to your career in the arts. Your attorney should be a resource for navigating employment and labor law as you deal with unions and guilds. Copyright takes center stage in artistic endeavors and your attorney must no exceptions be an experienced intellectual property practitioner. He or she must also be familiar with the legal issues unique to your particular art.
In addition to competence in these core areas, your attorney must love contracts. Yes, I said love. Representing clients in the arts means spending hour after hour, day in and day out, reading contracts, drafting contracts, tweaking contracts, perfecting contracts. It is what we do, and it is an art unto itself. Ask for a writing sample. If the attorney does not take genuine pleasure in language, does not get a thrill from protecting your rights through clear and succinct written expression, look elsewhere.
In the ideal world you would find one attorney who is competent to handle your legal issues of daily living as well as your unique needs as an artist. Unfortunately, that is a tall order. There simply are not a lot of attorneys out there who specialize in arts and entertainment law and general practice. So remember this: there is no law that says you can only have one attorney.
You are building a team. Choose whomever you must to get all tasks accomplished and all needs met.
Request an engagement letter from each attorney that specifically limits the scope of services such attorney will provide. You do not need to commit to any long-term relationships. Test the waters by retaining an attorney to perform a single task, and make sure the engagement letter specifies that your client-lawyer relationship will conclude once that task has been completed. If you choose to use the attorneys services in the future, you may opt either to continue on a task-by-task basis or to establish a more formal retainer relationship. Either way, the choice is yours. An attorney who insists otherwise does not have your best interests in mind.
Speaking of money: you do not work for free. You expect reasonable compensation as determined by prevailing market factors. If you are a performer you expect travel and per diem reimbursements; you expect a certain level of accommodation. And rightly so. Why? Because you are a professional engaged in a business. As such, however, you must accept that those engaged in other professions are entitled to similar expectations.
So please dont ask us to work for free just because you are an artist and your work makes the world a better place. I think my own work with artists makes the world a better place, too, but I dont regard that as a compelling reason to ask my dentist for a free filling. As professionals you need to budget for the necessary and reasonable expenses of running your business.
Think and act proactively rather than reactively. Plan ahead. Do things right the first time. Avoid disputes. Make the investment up front.
Sleep well.