Contact Your Lawyer Before Signing! by Jonathan Arnold, Esq.

“Everybody hates lawyers until they need one” goes that old saw about us attorneys. Question is, how do you know when you need one? Answer is, probably sooner, rather than later.

            If you took a glance at the byline, you no doubt by now know that the author of this Blog is a practicing lawyer and are wondering whether this is just another attempt to encourage the sale of not-really-needed services. Well, wonder no more as I am here to tell you that I (and almost every other attorney) actually stands to make more money by not actively informing the public about our services; the business deal gone south and litigation down the road are more costly for clients than wise counsel from the get-go, a variation on the theme of, “…an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure….” With many years of experience transacting business, as well as litigating, I do understand this sentiment all to well and am here to impart a bit of insight.

            About half the cases/matters that come to my office had their genesis in not seeking the advice of an attorney early on. Changing the names to protect the innocent, as it were, I’ll provide some examples from two of the areas in which I practice: high-tech and entertainment.

            As to high-tech, I’m a former Boeing employee and I still represent engineers – of both the hardware and software varieties – in many matters. Recently, one of my programmer clients came to me in the hopes of salvaging a substantial development deal. My client, the programmer, had started work on a part-time basis as a consultant over a year ago for a software company and his work was so good that he was soon working more than full time being a digital Johnny-on-the-Spot. Problem was, so much of his work had soon become key to a particular software program that he (rightly) felt as though who was soon to become the unacknowledged (and uncompensated) author of something quite important. When he first came to see me, I of course asked if he had a contract with this company. He replied that all he had was an oral agreement for his original, part-time consulting work (cue the screechy horror movie violins here). My client here had come to suspect what I already knew; namely, that if any deal is worth doing, it’s worth doing a contract that covers the bases (and also allows for due changes to the business arrangement as the project changes). The downside was that fixing this deal more than a year after the fact resulted in about five times the cost to my client than if he had sought me out when he was first approached by the company in question. Luckily, in this situation, the upside was that the general counsel for the company for whom my client worked was very reasonable and we all were able to hammer out a written contract that was truly a win-win for everybody, both in terms of compensation and continued, beneficial employment for my client.

            As to entertainment, suffice it to say that I grew up in “the biz” and have a particular (and effective) knack for entertainment law. Very recently, I represented a screenwriter who worked on a script that was in the process of being optioned by a major studio (the first, key step to production…and hopefully media success). When the option was about to be inked the studio, my client, the writer, had a minor falling out with his friend. Problem was, my client’s friend claimed that he, and not my client, was the “writer” if the major parts of the script that the studio found most saleable and that as the author of such parts, he should be entitled to the lion’s share of any option monies, as well as the bulk of the credit – and potential ultimate compensation – for the script. Do you have a contract with your friend?” I asked my client. He did but, alas, it neither delineated the roles each was to play nor how credit and compensation were to be allocated. What’s worse, the document he had was out of kilter from the basic requirements of the Writer’s Guild of America Basic Agreement, which covers key definitions in connection with script development and which definitions are understood and used by studios as the industry standard (again, cue the screechy horror movie violins here). Suffice it to say – and without having to even threaten litigation – I was able to renegotiate the deal with my client’s friend and get the option deal done. However, and again, retaining me later, rather than earlier, ended up costing my client.

            The San Fernando Valley in general, and Sherman Oaks in particular, is home to many, many attorneys whose practice areas range from family law to personal injury to business law to real estate to wills to, yes, entertainment law…and more. This Blog will provide both insight and advice on approaching various areas of the law in a way that will hopefully be beneficial, cost-effective and, yes, enjoyable.

            Stay tuned.