R.J. has wide-ranging experience across the entertainment and content-creation industries, assisting clients with business and intellectual property strategy and contract negotiation.
  • Entertainment and content-creation commercial contracts: Draft, review, and negotiate a variety of contracts, including print and digital distribution, music recording and publishing, film production, NDAs, releases and waivers, vendor agreements, master services agreements, statements of work, sponsorship agreements, sale of tangible and intangible assets, SaaS agreements, and website terms of service.
  • Intellectual Property Counsel: Provide counsel on intellectual property licensing and coexistence, brand and trademark protection, USPTO trademark prosecution, and copyright ownership and work-for-hire agreements.
  • General Counsel Services: Entity formation for for-profit and non-profit entities;  develop contract template playbooks to provide guidance on standard terms and conditions, pre-approved clauses, and fallback positions for the negotiation of high-volume transactional matters; preparation and anlysis of employment agreements, offer letters, and independent contractor agreements.

Experience

  • COMIC BOOK PUBLISHING: Served as outside general counsel to multiple award-winning comic book publishers and artists (publishing, rights acquisition, content licensing, and distribution efforts)​
  • MUSIC DEALERS: Former in-house legal counsel to a music licensing platform that provided authentic music for the advertising, television, film, and gaming industries, including the original compositions created for the Coca-Cola “Taste the Feeling” campaign for the  UEFA Euro 2016 and 2016 Summer Olympics;
  • THEATRE PRODUCTION: Acted as production counsel for multiple theatre production runs, guiding clients through each step from creation, protection, development, registration, investment, exploitation, and licensing.
  • CREATIVE CONTENT PRODUCTION: Served as production legal counsel for multiple award-winning audio-visual productions (short, feature, mini-series, episodic, live action, animated)
  • MUSIC RECORD LABEL AND PUBLISHING: Provided counsel to multiple artists on various music-related deals (recording, producer, sync/master license, music publishing) and currently serves as faculty advisor for DePaul University’s student-run record label, Blue Demon Records

Education

  • J.D., DePaul University College of Law
  • B.M. In Performing Arts Management, DePaul University
  • Admitted to practice law in Illinois

Practice Areas:

  • IP Transactions and Counseling
  • General Counsel Services
  • Trademark Law and Design Patent Law