Entertainment & Sports Law Symposium
10/24/2008
Media Notice
Contact:
Martin Keller, Media Savant Communications Co.
612-729-8585, mkeller@mediasavantcom.com
Lommen Abdo Law Firm, The GRAMMY ® Foundation, and Minnesota Law & Politics ® will address the law and business of music, film, sports, and IP litigation
ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS LAW SYMPOSIUM IN MINNEAPOLIS NOV. 13; ALL-DAY SESSION OFFERS PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FOR ATTORNEYS, ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS, SPORTS INDUSTRY BUSINESS PERSONS, CONTENT CREATORS, AND LAW STUDENTS THROUGHOUT UPPER MIDWEST REGION
TWIN CITIES, NEW YORK — October 23, 2008 — The inaugural Entertainment & Sports Law Symposium presented by one of the country’s premier entertainment law firms is slated for Thursday, November 13, 2008 in Minneapolis. The program will educate entertainment, sports professionals and others about timely legal and business topics. The panels will address a variety of contemporary practice areas including:
• Understanding music recording agreements in the digital age
• Literary rights negotiations to acquire books to be made into motion pictures
• Athlete’s rights
• Trademark and copyright litigation
• Entertainment law ethics
The all-day session will be lead by some of the country’s leading legal practitioners from Lommen, Abdo, Cole, King & Stageberg PA, an entertainment and full- service law firm based in Minneapolis, Hudson (WI) and New York.
Co-sponsored by The GRAMMY Foundation® and Minnesota Law & Politics® magazine, the Lommen Abdo Entertainment & Sports Law Symposium will take place on the 50th floor of the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis (IDS Center Building, 80 South 8th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402/ 800-752-4297). Cost of the daylong event from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. is $50.00 ($25.00 for law students) and includes a working lunch and a social hour. CLE credits have been approved in Minnesota (3 standard, 1 ethics, 1 professional development) and Wisconsin (6 standard, 1 ethics).
Click on this link to register for the event, or contact Theresa Abdo Whelan at 612-336-1277 or theresa@lommen.com.
“Our law firm and lawyers are not only involved in transactions and litigation matters world-wide, but we also have lectured and published extensively on entertainment and sports law topics,” says Ken Abdo, a former National Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries and the former National Chair of The GRAMMY Foundation® Entertainment Law Initiative. “The Symposium is a way to share what we have learned and developed for our speaking engagements throughout the U.S. and international conferences such as the South by Southwest Music and Film Conference and the ABA Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries Annual Meeting while also providing a regional forum for discussing the accompanying issues.”
Dan Satorious, formerly President of the Board, IFP MN (a national independent film professional’s association) is Co-Chair with Abdo in the firm’s seven-lawyer Entertainment and Sports Law Department. He boasts that, “This seminar will not only give participants current and practical information but it will provide updates on the state of the business in these rapidly changing industries.”
With 38 platinum and gold albums to his credit, music lawyer Bob Donnelly, who anchors the New York office, Paul Bezilla, a former in-house counsel for Disney and the former General Counsel for K-tel International, and former U of M football Gopher great, Lee Hutton III, will also represent the firm, along with other members of the department.
“Representing athletes is a unique discipline,” explains Hutton. “It compels the advisor to incorporate a variety of skills sets in order to provide a holistic service that engages the athlete’s rights to marketing, player contracts, and leveraging their star value.”
See a full schedule and panel descriptions of the Symposium at:
http://www.lommen.com/Firm-News/Seminars/Entertainment---Sports-Law-Symposium-(1).aspx
Panel Highlights Include:
• Careers in Entertainment Law: A Panel Discussion of Lommen Abdo Entertainment/Sports Lawyers for Law Students and Curious Lawyers
-- Moderated by Bill White, Publisher of Law & Politics
• Music: The Exclusive Recording Agreement in the Digital Age
-- Presented by Ken Abdo, Bob Donnelly and Paul Bezilla
• Sports (A Working Luncheon): Representing Professional Athletes in Marketing, Negotiations, and Post-Play Realities
-- Presented by Lee Hutton III
• Film: From Book to Screen
-- Presented by Dan Satorius and Christie Rothenberg Healey
• IP Litigation: Litigating the Scope of Intellectual Property Rights in Entertainment Transactions
-- Presented by Tim Matson and Barry O’Neil
• Entertainment Law Ethics: A Roadmap for the Entrepreneurial Entertainment Lawyer
-- Presented by Ken Abdo and Bob Donnelly
For more information — or to interview a Symposium spokesperson — please contact Martin Keller at Media Savant Communications Co., 612-729-8585, or mkeller@mediasavantcom.com