CLE 5: Ethics: Lawyers Need Them and This Credit
Lawyer Rules of Professional Conduct apply to all practitioners. The Rules pose unique and cautionary considerations for entertainment lawyers …and clients.
Presenters
Ken Abdo is Chair of Lommen Abdo Law Firm’s Entertainment Law Department which has served as legal counsel to music, film, TV, theatre, literary publishing and media artists for over 27 years. Firm clients include multiple GRAMMY award recipients, gold and platinum recording artists, as well as Oscar, Emmy, Peabody and Spirit award winners. Ken’s focus is on music law and business over all media platforms. Following earlier years as a musician and entertainer, his legal career has been recognized for successful work with developing artists, legacy artists, and music artist estates. He has helped build a national practice and one of the most successful and visible entertainment law practices in the Midwest. His legal team has been at the fore of copyright transfer termination issues since filing the nation’s first post-1978 notice. His commitment to artist advocacy and the legal profession have vaulted him to national leadership positions with The Recording Academy, The American Bar Association and other organizations.
Scott Goldman
Los Angeles, Vice President, GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares Foundation. Goldman joined the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares in December 2005. In his current role he is responsible for raising revenue to support both the human service mission of MusiCares and the education programming of the GRAMMY Foundation. Goldman has overseen the creation and implementation of unique marketing partnerships putting together well known brands and GRAMMY Foundation music education programs. Prior to joining the Recording Academy he was Vice President of Development at City of Hope. From 1991-2005 he ran the organization’s fundraising efforts within the music and entertainment industries. He also oversaw City of Hope’s network of 10 regional fundraising offices around the country. He began his fundraising career in 1983 with United Cerebral Palsy, joining the March of Dimes in 1985. He went on to found the Northern California Chapter of the RP Foundation Fighting Blindness in 1987. Goldman is also a professional musician appearing at clubs and festivals around the country. A native of New York, Goldman received his Bachelor of Science degree in theatre from Skidmore College.
Bob Donnelly has been a full-time music lawyer for 35 years. He has represented artists or managers of artists who have sold three hundred million albums. His clients include several members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Jazz Hall of Fame. Former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer gave Donnelly much of the credit for settling a case with the major record labels resulting in a payment to artists of $55 million dollars in back-due royalties. Bob Donnelly is a frequent contributor to Billboard Magazine and other legal and music industry trade journals. He is also a full-time music geek. He has been awarded 40 platinum record plaques and was recently named to the "Super Lawyers" list and as one of the 100 most distinguished lawyers in the U.S. of Irish-American descent.