Frequently Asked Questions

Working With Us • About Us • Intellectual Property • Estate Planning • Contracts • Fractal Counsel • For Students

Working with us

We recommend being proactive rather than reactive.
When thinking about making an agreement, you should reach out to a lawyer in situations like these:
Negotiating any kind of commercial agreement
Consigning your artwork to a gallery
Establishing an exclusive relationship with a gallery or representative
Creating a commissioned artwork
Setting up an online platform (such as a website) to sell your artwork or deliver your services
Hiring employees and part-time workers
Collaborating with a colleague to create a work
A lawyer who specializes in art law can help you understand the customs and norms that apply in such transactions, guide you through important conversations with collaborators, and prepare contract terms that reflect your goals and preferences.
When thinking about copyright, trademark, and sharing your work with others, you should speak with a lawyer any time you are confused about the terms of a request to use your work, need to cite or reuse another person’s work, or need to establish rules about using and sharing your work.
The words we use to describe intellectual property rights are highly specialized, and mixing up one word with another can create confusion and unwanted release of your rights. It’s best to get help translating these terms!
Finally, art lawyers are crucial participants in estate planning for artists. It’s important to design your will or trust with a lawyer who understands the intricacies of planning for artworks and intellectual property, and can advise you on the best ways to preserve your legacy.
We begin with a 15-minute Fit Call. This is a quick get-to-know-you meeting in which we decide if we like each other and figure out if Implement Legal has the right expertise for your needs.
After that, we schedule a 60-minute paid consultation that helps you get organized, helps us form a comprehensive legal service plan, and allows us to accurately predict your service costs.
After that meeting, we send you a service plan and proposal with guaranteed pricing. If you choose to move ahead with the services we recommend, we apply 100% of the cost of your consultation to your service package.
When you accept our proposal, we send a contract for legal services and your first invoice. You also receive access to your private client portal, where all of your documents are stored. You are invited to join us on Voxer and Loom, which we really like for exchanging messages and updates. If you are joining Continuous Counsel, you get Katherine’s cell phone number.
Then we schedule your first meeting, and we get to work!
Business setups usually take 8 weeks. We tackle one aspect of your setup at a time and meet along the way to review and establish this area of your business.
Estate plans usually take 4-6 weeks, depending on complexity. Every estate plan includes 4 meetings.
Contract review and negotiations can take 2 days or 8 months; we go at your pace and update you weekly.
Copyright and trademark registrations are quick (sort of); we usually meet twice, then we’re on the government’s timetable. The Copyright Office takes about 2 months to fully process a registration. The Trademark Office is quite backed up, and takes more than a year to process an application.
We offer rush services but also charge accordingly. You can read about rush services on our Fees page.
The average person who needs a lawyer typically cannot afford one. That’s what “billing” is for - we don’t expect you to pay all your costs upfront!
You can find information about our rates on this page: Fees
Initial consultations (Protect Your Magic and Craft Your Legacy) are billed once at the time you schedule, but you may apply the entire cost of these consultations to the legal services we recommend.
We bill flat-fee service packages in 2-4 installments, depending on your timeline and budget.
We charge hourly for unique, customized projects - these are like artistic commissions. In these cases, we ask for a four-hour retainer and send monthly bills until your project is complete. We set not-to-exceed limits and send current billable totals every Friday.
No one likes surprise bills, so we never send them.

About us

Collectively, 10 degrees and decades of experience. You can read more about us on the About page.
Our specific areas of expertise include:
• Negotiating and drafting contracts for private and public commissions, sales, licensing, representation, publications, and exhibitions.
• Breach of contract, copyright infringement, trademark infringement.
• Website terms and conditions, privacy policies, and other required statements.
• Copyright and trademark registration.
• Estate planning advice for artists, writers, musicians, collectors, and foundations.
• Setting up creative businesses and non-profit organizations.
• Advising established creative businesses on restructuring and strategic growth.
What we don’t do: litigation, family law, DUIs, immigration, criminal law, and everything else.
We want our clients to have the very best advice - always. If any aspect of your matter deserves attention from an outside specialist, we ask a trusted colleague to consult. For example, if your estate plan is affected by an existing divorce decree, we will ask our favorite divorce attorney to review our advice.
Sometimes these collaborations are billed directly through our firm. Other times, the colleague feels more comfortable having you sign a second engagement agreement and pay them directly. In all cases, you will be notified of all potential participants and charges before we proceed.
We routinely update outdated or insufficient legal documents and strategies. Schedule a Fit Call or send an email to hello[at]implementlegal.com.
We offer a pro bono estate planning clinic. The clinic is by application only. Sign up for our mailing list to be notified of the next offering.
Katherine is sometimes available for academic and professional conferences, university guest lectures, and podcast interviews. Tell us more at hello[at]implementlegal.com!
We invite you to read the many testimonials and case studies found throughout our site.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is an intangible right to a tangible creation.
Examples include:
• Copyright for song lyrics
• Copyright for a musical performance
• Trademark for a kombucha logo
• Trademark for the name of a mystical arts shop
• Copyright for a painting
See also patent, which covers scientific inventions. FYI, 100% of patent lawyers must have BS degrees and take a second bar exam.
We know plenty of good patent lawyers, but we don’t handle that, and they generally don’t handle copyright and trademark!
Nope! They protect very different types of rights and are overseen by two separate agencies.
Copyright is actually a bundle of six rights:
• The right to reproduce the work,
• The right to prepare derivative works,
• The right to display the work,
• The right to distribute copies,
• The right to perform and display the work publicly
• The right to perform a sound recording publicly by means of digital audio transmission
Copyright law protects your creative work from the moment it is expressed in tangible form. Literally, a sufficiently creative napkin sketch is protected by copyright law from the moment it is made. (If you copied the sketch - for example, doodling a Beatrix Potter bunny - not so much.) Generally, your copyright lasts for your lifetime plus 70 years, or 120 years from creation if the work is made by or for a corporation.
Copyright doesn’t need to be renewed, and you don’t have to assert your rights against copycats to hold your copyright. Though there are rules about how long you have to bring a claim.
Copyright can be licensed, assigned, sold, and transferred for different lengths of time, in different areas, to different people. A copyright can also be registered with The Copyright Office, giving you additional protection (see more below).
Trademark law protects your brand; it also helps your clients and customers distinguish your goods from another company’s goods. Trademark is intended to prevent consumer confusion, but also to recognize and protect the investment you have made in building goodwill with your customers.
Unlike copyright, trademark is not automatic. You must apply to register a trademark, you do so by class of goods, and the same image or word can be used in different industries.
Why? You’re not dumb; you know that Apple sells iPhones, not Cosmic Crisps. Gets more confusing when you’re at CVS and can’t remember if you like Crest or Colgate. But then you see the distinct AquaFresh logo, and recognize the swoosh on your sink! That is what trademark protects.
Also, you must renew your trademark every few years, and you lose it if you don’t enforce your rights against copycats.
It depends, especially for works that are undergoing revision. During a Fit Call, we would ask if you expect someone to infringe your work, how large your audience will be, and if you’ve recently encountered an instance of infringement and intend to pursue action. If you’re in the middle of writing a screenplay, it might not be the right time to register a draft. If you’re showing a film at a festival, it might be a very good idea to register in advance! If you’ve just caught a major infringement, it’s critical that you register, because there are time limits involved.
Generally, the sooner, the better. However, you can’t just think up Awesome Name or Banger Logo in the shower, apply for a trademark, and sit on your idea forever. You must show actual use of the mark in commerce (best) or a good faith intention to use the mark in commerce (better).
Schedule a Fit Call. (And do not yell at them…yet.)

Estate Planning

Yes, especially if you don’t want your parents or siblings (if your parents are dead) to have control of your assets and creations.
In the absence of a will or trust, your state of residence will decide who administers your estate, gets your tangible assets and intellectual property, and each state follows strict rules.
If you don’t like the default scenario, then you need an estate plan!
Also yes if want a specific kind of end-of-life celebration.
Or want to choose who takes care of your pet.
Or want to support friend/nephew/goddaughter.
Definitely yes if you have preferences about who makes your healthcare and financial decisions.
We think of estate plans as “wish communication devices.” These documents speak for you when you can’t speak for yourself.
We think EVERYONE eeds an estate plan.
Yes! We regularly consult with colleagues on specific areas of estate plans. We will be happy to help you figure out how to best plan for your clients’ copyrights, trademarks, artistic creations, writing, compositions, and art collections.
No. We work exclusively with estates that hold intellectual property or art collections. We do not assist with ancillary probate and trust transfers.

Contracts

Sure can! We regularly review correspondence to see if an informal agreement turned into a more formal situation along the way.
Yep. This is why we want you to use a real contract!
No. In fact, it will likely increase your legal fees, as we will have to rewrite a bunch of inapplicable clauses. The worst disputes we’ve ever seen have resulted from vague contracts downloaded from the internet. That’s why we’re bringing you better templates in 2024! Sign up for our newsletter to find out when Implement Tools - our legal template suite specifically designed for artists and creatives - is released.

Continuous Counsel

“In-house counsel” are full-time lawyers at large organizations like Target or Apple. These lawyers provide immediate answers to legal matters that impact daily operations. In-house counsel is fully dedicated to a company; they have no other clients, deeply understand every aspect of the company, and advise leadership on policies and decisions that might not be specifically legal in nature, including marketing, hiring, acquisitions, and growth.
Small creative businesses usually don’t have full-time lawyer on staff, and sometimes don’t have a Chief Financial or Chief of Operations, either. Yet, they also need immediate answers to legal questions, and guidance on quasi-legal decisions, too. But small businesses typically can’t afford to keep a full-time lawyer on staff, so they have to track down their attorney, get onto their schedule, and pay expensive hourly rates.
With Continuous Counsel, you get the benefits of in-house counsel without the cost and commitment of hiring a full-time employee. Our team becomes intimately familiar with your creative business so that we can provide the advice you need when you need it.
Continuous Counsel clients have a fully separate track. They receive a dedicated phone line, and receive priority response to time-sensitive matters. These clients receive ongoing review of legal documents, intellectual property, financial systems, and insurance needs. Service plans include unlimited phone calls and emails, a monthly 90-minute review meeting, and quarterly meetings with bookkeepers and tax professional. We select one major project to work on each month, such as an operating agreement, trademark registration, or employee agreement. We also manage outsourced legal services, consulting with colleagues on your behalf as necessary.
We offer three tiers of service as 6-month and 12-month plans, billed monthly. Read all the details in this downloadable PDF: Continuous Counsel
No, we work as independent contractors. We will work with you as members of your team - for example, you can give us a company email address and we will communicate on your behalf. But we will not become part-time or full-time employees.

For Students

We only provide referrals to current and previous clients. We recommend asking your county’s bar association.
If you have a specific question about our practice, please email us at hello[at]implementlegal.com.
Maybe! Send your resume and an explanatory email to hello[at]implementlegal.com.
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