We advise clients on all commercial matters from establishing the most appropriate legal structure to sales and acquisitions of businesses and assets. During the last five years, our firm has been instrumental in structuring and negotiating over $150 million in commercial transactions. Additionally, we guide clients through stakeholder and governance issues, investments and fundraising, corporations and partnership legislation, and act for clients in business affairs and board advisory roles.

From exclusive publication rights for celebrity announcements, to brand endorsement deals, to takedown notices, we understand how to protect and extract the most value from image and brand rights. We advise on endorsements and sponsorships, advertising standards and marketing practices, celebrity appearances and publicity agreements, events and touring agreements, image use and infringement, management agreements, and trademarks.

A highly technical area of law, we can help you protect your brand and personal reputation. We provide advice, issue concerns notices, letters of demand, and cease and desist notices, as well as litigation. We represent clients in respect of various reputational matters including defamation (both pre- and post-publication), passing off, misleading and deceptive conduct, injurious falsehood, misuse of personal image, and falsely implying an endorsement or sponsorship.

We understand what goes into running and working with design and creative industries. We act for leading graphic and motion design firms, agencies, creative directors, photographers, artisan craftspeople and makers, painters, muralists, typographers, illustrators, sculptors, and industry organisations. We assist clients with all commercial matters including services agreements, commissioning agreements, licensing and assignment of copyright, gallery-artist relationships, exhibitions and touring, employment and freelancing, releases, restraints and restrictions, non-disclosure agreements, copyright infringement, moral rights, value and charge-out rate advice, disputes, and everything else in between.

From standalone websites and apps to gaming engines, we assist clients throughout all stages from idea inception to MVP to product launch to sales/acquisitions. We advise local and international companies in relation to website terms and conditions, software as a service agreements, online game of chance competition rules, Spam and Privacy Act compliance, and negotiating with collecting societies. In addition, we assist clients with funding applications, music and third party copyright clearances, cybersquatting, employment, contractor, and developer agreements, R&D advice, non-disclosure agreements, engine licences, and commercialisation of creative projects.

We don’t just advise on the legal position in relation to HR matters but also the commercial realities of what it is to employ/contract or be employed in Australia or New Zealand. We draft and negotiate employment agreements and exits for companies, high-level executives at multinational entertainment, talent, fashion, and design companies and regularly attend Fair Work Commission conciliations. We also provide industry-specific advice in relation to workplace entitlements, intellectual property, confidentiality, employment restraints, as well as contractor vs employee hiring.

We represent fashion houses that show at MBAFW, NYFW, and Paris Fashion Week and understand how and when the Copyright/Designs Act overlap occurs and what steps you need to take to exploit your designs and copyrights and protect them from infringement. We also represent clients in respect of manufacturing and fabrication agreements, distribution and supply agreements (exclusive and non-exclusive) with Australian and global retail and online outlets, licensing agreements, agency agreements, employment matters, outworkers agreements and advice, labelling, customs seizure, copycat or counterfeit merchandise, and all other related matters.

There is a huge amount of risk involved when putting on a live event of any sort. We have an extensive client base of promoters, talent, booking agents, and venues. Having regularly acted for clients from all sides of the business, we have deep experience in the nuances of live performances and promoting.

We have an extensive hospitality client list, including licensed venues, restaurants and cafes, celebrity chefs, and some of the most influential hospitality interior designers and architects in the industry. Our work includes advising on purchase and sale of businesses, employment, leasing, property purchase, venue fit-outs, television and event appearances, book and other publishing deals, sponsorships and endorsements, and other related matters.

Intellectual property is the backbone of our practice. Whether it be creation, ownership, registration, transfer, licensing or protection of intellectual property (or ideas), we give our clients the assistance they need to protect or assert their intellectual property rights in Australia, New Zealand and throughout the world. Alongside representing our clients in respect of copyright matters, we handle some of the biggest trade mark portfolios in Australia and can assist with trade mark and designs searches, applications, adverse reports, oppositions, registrations and certifications.

Our core business developed within the music industry, so we can assist with everything from deal negotiation to dispute resolution. Our clients include musicians, bands, songwriters, composers, producers, festivals, agents, managers, labels, publishers, distributors, streaming services, and content providers.

Our clients often need legal assistance with matters outside of the entertainment industry. For many people, buying real estate will be their most significant investment. Our property lawyers are not only highly experienced in conveyancing, but are also across all areas of property law, contract law and other areas of the law which can be relevant to the sale, purchase or lease of commercial and/or residential property. In addition, we regularly advise and prepare paperwork in relation to estate matters (wills, probate, estate planning) and powers of attorney.

We represent radio talent and producers as well as radio stations and streaming services. We advise in relation to employment and contractor agreements, codes of practice and conduct, and other matters relating to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, including representing clients in respect of ACMA investigations and submissions.

Thanks in part to streaming, content in shortform, longform, and limited format is being created and consumed more than ever before. We advise clients both in front of and behind the camera as well as all the other people that support the creation or distribution of content for both digital and terrestrial broadcast and communications. Our clients include streaming services, TV hosts, actors, media personalities, talent management entities, production companies, directors, writers, animators, composers, and distributors. Our services include advising on talent performers and key-creatives’ rights, agreements and releases, television format protection, script option rights agreements, classifications, and pre-broadcast defamation and explicit content review and advice.

We represent journalists, publishers, and authors of books (fiction and non-fiction), magazines, columns, blogs, articles (longform and shortform) and other online and in-print publications in respect of rights, advances, royalties and how works get used and exploited and adapted in other mediums. We regularly advise clients in respect of publishing deals, co-author agreements, ghostwriters, literary agents, copyright infringement, exploitation of subsidiary rights, pre- and post-publication defamation review, and option agreements.