Business Affairs
Representation is a
fiduciary practice
before it is anything else.
An index of the work, written for people who will read it closely: what we read, what we negotiate, and what we argue for on your behalf. The practice is attorney-led, and every item below is something a person does rather than a capability the house claims.
Contract Review
Every agreement, read twice.
Brand agreements, production contracts, modeling contracts, endorsement deals, record agreements, publishing contracts, management agreements: we read all of them line by line. We flag the terms that matter, strike the ones that should come out, and draft the ones that should go in. We execute nothing on your behalf without your informed consent.
- · Standard markup
- · Fair-dealing review
- · Counter-proposal drafting
Rights Protection
Likeness, image, voice, performance.
Your name, your face, your voice, your performance, and your likeness are intellectual property, and we protect them with specificity. We negotiate territory, term, media, exclusivity, and renewal as discrete levers, and we refuse to let them be bundled into one vague global grant. We address derivative use, AI training, and synthetic reproduction in every agreement we touch.
- · Name-and-likeness
- · Synthetic media clauses
- · Territorial reservations
Exclusivity & Non-Compete
What you give, what you keep.
Exclusivity is a term to be bought, not assumed. We take every exclusivity request apart by scope, duration, category, and territory, then negotiate the carve-outs: for the relationships you already hold, for the ventures you are building under your own name, and for adjacent categories. We read non-compete language against the law of each jurisdiction where you actually work.
- · Category exclusivity
- · Territorial carve-outs
- · Tail periods
Deal Structuring & Negotiation
Fees, participations, options, floors.
A headline fee is only the first line. We structure compensation across guarantees, back-end participation, bonuses, stock, options, equity, and royalty escalators, and we reserve the options that matter later: renewal, exercise, sequels. We argue floors and caps in the language of the industry you are working in, whether that is film, television, streaming, fashion, music, sport, or publishing.
- · Back-end participation
- · Options & escalators
- · Floor & guarantee
Royalty Audit
What is owed, verified.
A royalty statement is not a receipt. It is a claim. We audit every material statement against the underlying agreement, against industry norms, and against what you were paid before. We write down what does not reconcile, and we pursue the shortfall. We hold audit rights open in every agreement we negotiate, so that checking a number never depends on the other side agreeing to let us.
- · Statement reconciliation
- · Shortfall recovery
- · Audit-rights retention
IP & Likeness
Trademark, copyright, trade dress.
Your name and your likeness are an intellectual-property portfolio in waiting. We file trademarks for the name and the mark, register copyright in original works, and structure loan-out entities where they produce real protection and real tax efficiency. We work the guild and union questions (SAG-AFTRA, AEA, DGA, WGA, AFM) into the deal while it is still being drafted.
- · Trademark filings
- · Loan-out structuring
- · Guild compliance
Estate & Legacy Planning
Careers end; legacies should not.
For career-long talent, we work alongside estate counsel on publicity rights, posthumous likeness control, trust and foundation formation, and the administration of residual income. We open that file in the first decade rather than the last, because the structures that hold are the ones built while there is still something to negotiate with.
- · Posthumous rights
- · Trust structuring
- · Residual administration
In practice
The best deal is the one negotiated before the pressure arrives.
This practice is backed by the Maison Standard, which is the set of commitments with times attached that you can hold the house to, and by our published credentials. A single matter, a specific negotiation, or standing counsel can be arranged without representation. Legal services are engaged separately, on the terms set out at the foot of this page.
Attorney advertising. Legal services are provided by Clemenza Law Group, a separate law practice; the attorney is admitted in New York. This page describes capabilities and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Matters outside New York are handled in coordination with qualified local counsel.