Art Law
I am an Art Law Attorney offering passionate and thoughtful legal representation for Artists working in any media, including Sculpture, Painting, Digital Media and Graphic Design, Ceramics, Photography, Installations, or Mixed Media, as well as for Gallery Owners and Salespeople, Public and Private Art Collection Curators, Agents, Art Collectors, Art Sellers, Art Appraisers, and all professionals, entities, and individuals involved in Art Transactions, Disputes, Litigation, Arbitration, or Mediation issues.
Capable of amassing a superior team of support professionals such as CPA tax and Forensic Accounting specialists, Expert Witnesses, Psychologists for Jury Selection and Witness Evaluation purposes, Lie Detection Specialists, Private Investigators, Artistic and Art Media Specialists, Public Relations and News Specialists, I am eager to provide individual or institutional clients with every advantage in Transactions and Contested Disputes in Art Law.
In addition to my professional legal approach to such issues and as a former member of California Lawyers for the Arts, I possess personal insight into Art Law matters given my own experience as an amateur artist working in various media, particularly sculpture and illustration, and as a regular patron of the arts. I bring this personal perspective to my work as an Art Lawyer to better serve clients. As you can see from my dozens of outstanding Client Testimonials, I strive to satisfy my clients’ legal needs and am distinguished for my abilities in the Courtroom, at Negotiations, Alternative Dispute Resolution settings including Mediation and Arbitration Hearings, and in crucial Transactions.
I offer communicative, personable, and persistent legal representation for clients involved in all manner of Art Law matters whether your Art Law concern involves issues related to Contracts; Intellectual Property Rights or Infringement Disputes; Confidentiality and Non-Compete Clauses; Employment issues; Art Auction, Art Sales, Art Provenance, or Art Valuation Disputes; Property Disputes; Agency Agreements; or Art Theft or Conversion matters be they Civil or Criminal in nature.
On June 19, 2019, New York State’s legislators passed a law that also gets rid of the draconian “severe or pervasive” standard and utilizes the more sensible “single incident” approach as described above; and NY lawmakers also made secret settlements illegal, just like California. This is truly wonderful news! No more inappropriate touching, sexist commentary, or pornographic videos at work! Certainly such a standard is long overdue, and employers and workplace creeps had better heed the call of a new day.
An attorney can do much for a student or other individual facing a school in an administrative grievance, investigation, hearing, or appeal, be it reviewing the facts and properly advising the individual, drafting correspondence or other documents in the dispute, negotiating with the school, representing the individual at hearings, filing complaints with governmental bodies, or preparing the foundations for litigation against the school in the court system. Schools know this, and that’s why they scurrilously try to prohibit attorney representation for individuals - be they students, teachers, or staff - in such disputes. It’s far easier for schools to remain unopposed, to intimidate you, and to take your money and time and leave you holding your head on the curb after it’s all over.
There's no evidence of any explicit or even any implied conspiracy between app developers and Apple to price fix. It stretches reason to think that every app developer has somehow entered into an implied conspiracy with Apple to raise the price of the app by Apple’s 30% commission! App prices are based on competitive principles. Consider the plethora of $1.99 apps. Without Apples’s 30% commission, those would be priced at $1.39, you think? Nope.
It’s ridiculous to suggest that Facebook should independently monitor every third party’s advertisement on its site to make sure that the advertiser and the ad are legitimate, authentic, and safe for general consumption; but frankly between its “flag” feature where users can report problematic ads or behavior on the platform, its Artificial Intelligence surveillance, and its team of 10,000+ ad auditors (which Zuckerberg stated in the Senate that he’s increasing to 20,000 soon), Facebook is doing exactly that. So what more could we reasonably ask? On top of that, it’s Facebook users who are choosing to share so much private information about themselves with the public on their Facebook profiles!
In the last couple years, tractor manufacturer John Deere (formally Deere and Co.) has allegedly been limiting the ability of purchasers of its tractors to independently work on these tractors or from having any third party parts & repair providers work on said tractors unless they are licensed by John Deere to do so.
To stop the inevitable migration of artists, middle class families, and progressive white collar professionals from our nation’s cosmopolitan centers to outskirt towns and emerging middle American metro-areas, we need more aggressive housing safety regulations, much more expansive rent-control laws, and more affordable housing projects in Oakland and the cities across the nation like it, from Brooklyn, NY and Somerville, MA to LA, Austin, Seattle, and Portland.
Next time you hear about somebody suing somebody else for money to try to make up for some injury, more likely than not remember this: We are paying for it in the long run. We pay for the Courts and the Judges. We pay the legislators who spend their time making regulations (laws) that provide remedies for victims protected by such laws.
During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised us to create a meaningful universal health care law that would provide all Americans with necessary health care coverage. I suppose by that he meant that he would institute the Republican, pro-insurance industry requirement that we all get in line to spend what little money we have to purchase private insurance policies from big insurance companies, lest we be held liable for violating the ironically named "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Law" - an Orwellian name for a law that is itself unconstitutional.
Many business professionals often lack a sufficient understanding of the fundamentals of US Patent Law. To bridge the gap and make my professional conversations with clients more useful and time-effective, I offer the following synopsis of US Patent Litigation and Patent Law. Please note that this synopsis is only for basic informational and entertainment purposes and should not be relied upon as legal advice. You should consult with me personally to discuss your Patent Litigation matter.
It is best to review your business’s policies and procedures in maintaining the highest available levels of security for your databases and online accounts, be as organized and diligent as possible in your data management and online security practices, and take all the necessary precautions by training your personnel appropriately. Since nobody is impervious to online attacks, as we learn from Mr. Honan’s unfortunate example, it is important to also clearly inform your clients of such possibilities in your contractual language.