Category: News

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Excited and humbled

Today is the first day of this new practice. My new practice. It is the culmination of a lot of dreaming and a lot of work and many years of patience.

I wanted to go to law school for a very long time. In fact, I took the LSATs 3 times, not because I did poorly (the opposite, actually) but because my scores expired before I could get all the pieces to work so that I could attend. Scores last for 5 years so you can do the math there. Finally, everything came together and I happily did the work of being a full scholarship law student. I graduated a trimester early and passed the notoriously difficult California Bar on my first try. Then Istarted lawyeringwith Carolyn Wright (photoattorney.com) which was outstanding training in exactly the work I wanted to do (she is a great mentor to whom I owe so much).

And now, today, I get to hangmy (virtual)shingle. Burns the Attorney. Wow. It’s very exciting for me.Thank you to everyone who made this possible. I’m humbled to get to do this.

Thank you also to the clients who have already contacted me for new representation (and it’s not even 9am here as I type this!). It is my intentionto serve you all well, honorably, and as much like a decent human as any lawyer can be.

Let’s do this.

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Before Means Before

Y’all are probably sick of hearing me nag about registering your work as soon as possible, but here is a great example of why I do that. In a recent opinion the court wrote (emphasis added by me):

Because Compass did not register its copyright until February 17, 2012 one day after the alleged infringement commenced the court finds as a matter of law that Compass is not entitled to an award of statutory damages or attorneys fees.

Ouch. That really sucks.

Remember that yourregistration has to be before the infringement actually began (or, in the case of published work, within 3 calendar months of first publication), not just before you discover the infringement, for you to be able to get statutory damages or attorneys’ fees. Clearly the courts are willing to say “One day too late, tough.”

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Launching July 1

I’m excited to announce my new practice! Burns the Attorney will officially launch on July 1, 2016!

I’m also a little wistful about it. See, when I graduated from law school and took the bar, Carolyn Wright (PhotoAttorney.com) called me and offered me paralegal work while I waited for my results. When I found that I’d passed (huzzah!) and, shortly after, took my oath (5 years ago, today!), she offered me part-timework with her firm; not too much later, after proving myself worthwhile, I was brought on full-time. In other words, I’ve worked with her for my entire legal career thus far. Carolyn has been a true mentor in every way and I’m going to miss working with her; but, she’s reducing her practiceso it is time to move on*.

It is my intention to carry on much as she has. She’s been a great role model and it will be my honor to continue what she has taught. That is, I want to serve photographers as I have been, protecting their rights and helping them with their businesses.However, I also want to work more with other creative professionals like designers, illustrators, writers, etc., and I will be offering more legal services like estate planning.

In short, if you make art, I want to help you and your business.

You can find me on Facebook at /burnstheattorney (just click the Facebook icon in the footer, below) where I’ll be posting bits of news of interests to creatives, and on Twitter at BurnstheLawyer (or click the Twitter icon below). Longer format posts will appear on this page.

I’m really looking forward to this new adventure and to serving my clients, new and old, mindfully, with compassion, and as much like a normal human as any lawyer can be. 😉

* Carolyn will be keeping her license; also, PhotoAttorney will be wrapping up its cases over the next few months so I will be finishing up my work there over that time as I help the transition.

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