Practice Notes

A Look at Legal Work On Haitian Relief Song

By Petra Pasternak

Millions of viewers around the world recently saw the remake of the “We Are the World” song aired at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Steven Chidester, a Rancho Santa Fe, CA, partner with Luce Forward, didn't just see the performance, he was one of a cadre of lawyers who spent two intense weeks working behind the scenes to help create the We Are the World Foundation (www.wearetheworldfoundation.org) on behalf of its founders, Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie. (The original 1985 song, recorded by USA for Africa, raised tens of millions for famine relief.)

The We Are the World Foundation, set up to raise money for Haitian earthquake relief and development, owns the production rights to the song and music video, and helps distribute it through various channels, including iTunes, YouTube, and cable and satellite television, Chidester says. Setting it up in the weeks between the Grammy Awards, when the artists were in town in Los Angeles, and the start of the Olympics involved a hustle for the lawyers.

Chidester, who specializes in estate planning and tax-exempt organizations, says the pro bono project came in through Los Angeles partner Kathy Jorrie with a tight deadline. Jorrie, who's handled entertainment work for client AEG Live for about a decade, got a call in early February from the concert/venue company's General Counsel, Shawn Trell, asking if the firm would take the project on pro bono. “I told him immediately that we would, absolutely.”

Incorporating the nonprofit was the easy part, according to Chidester. Formalizing the relationships for distribution of the video, and for fundraising, was more involved. On Feb. 8, when Chidester was getting ready to register the foundation in all 50 states and planning the tax exemption application to file with the IRS, he was called into a meeting of board members and others at the Bel Air house of Quincy Jones. “It was then that I came to understand that the people at NBC had offered 3 1/2 minutes during the broadcast of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on Feb. 12,” Chidester says.

Working with AEG's in-house legal team and Morrison & Foerster lawyers, the Luce lawyers had five days to finalize the distribution agreements, review the structure and text of the Web site, arrange contracts with YouTube and Google Checkout, and put in place text message short-code donation systems.

Morrison & Foerster Los Angeles partner Russell Weiss says that his firm got involved through one of the “We Are the World” project coordinators. MoFo lawyers focused on preparing and negotiating the broadcast license and sponsorship agreement with the Coca-Cola Co., as well as the broadcast license agreement with iN DEMAND, among other things, Weiss says. The team of about five put in roughly 100 pro bono hours in a week for the project, he adds.

' Petra Pasternak is a Staff Writer for The Recorder, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance.

By Brian Baxter

When the Winter Olympics were underway, the big names on the U.S. squad were already familiar to most of us. But the Olympics are also big business, and some of those names become even bigger after lawyers finish crafting corporate sponsorship agreements.

“A lot of these big companies make deals with athletes to either endorse the product, use their pictures in advertisements or come to a corporate event,” says Kenneth Meyer, Of Counsel in Bryan Cave's Los Angeles office. Meyer, a former senior executive vice president at MGM, helps companies negotiate sponsorship agreements with athletes and entertainment figures. Most of his clients take one of two approaches: wait and see if the athletes win before offering a contract or sign earlier in hopes of getting a better deal.

Nike has perfected the signing-early option, Meyer says, swooping in to get a lower price with the added benefit of watching an athlete blossom under its brand. Some companies, such as Nike, offer bonuses for meeting certain performance standards. “I've seen companies offer different amounts for gold, silver and bronze,” Meyer says. “And in track-and-field you'll have financial incentives for world records.”

Of course, for every reward, there's a personal conduct clause to protect the corporate interest. (Think Tiger Woods.) How strongly worded those clauses are depends on the company, Meyer says. Sports agents will fight for phrasing like “convicted of a felony.” But for Meyer, criminal charges are enough to tarnish the athlete's reputation and diminish their value to sponsors. “On behalf of the company, we usually try and get broad language to cover them should something happen,” he says.

One U.S. athlete that seems to have come out of nowhere is skier Lindsey Vonn, who posed for the cover of Sports Illustrated's Olympic preview issue and the magazine's swimsuit edition.

Though Vonn suffered a shin injury that threatened to cloud her Olympics, Meyer says it would be unusual for a sponsorship deal to include an “opt out” because of injury. He did, however, notice something interesting during Vonn's rapid rise to mainstream recognition. “I was surprised she was able to keep her Red Bull headband on for the Sports Illustrated cover,” Meyer says. “I guess she must have a good contract.” (Meyer declined to speculate on whether Red Bull and Sports Illustrated had reached some sort of quid pro quo that allowed Vonn to don the headband for the cover.)

But, “fame never lasts forever, you need to start life-planning before the cheering stops,” says Bryan Cave counsel Roy Hadley, who advises NBA and NFL players on managing their finances. “I tell my clients that when they're famous is the time to sign deals that can pay out long-term.”

Done right, two weeks of success can turn into a lifetime of fortune. Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno performed on Dancing with the Stars. Snowboarder Shaun White has branched out into video games and remained an extreme sport staple. And many years after her last Winter Olympics, Picabo Street, a skier who had a shin injury just like Vonn's, still has sponsors.

' Brian Baxter is a Reporter with The American Lawyer, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance.

By Roger Adler

The U.S. Tennis Association is the sport's national governing body. Established in 1881, the nonprofit organization invests 100% of its proceeds in promoting and developing tennis at all levels, from the grassroots to professional play. The association counts more than 700,000 members and thousands more volunteers; it has 350 employees.

Senior Counsel Dan Malasky runs the association's professional tennis arm. The legal team comprises four attorneys assisted by three paralegals, a pair of administrative assistants and a records coordinator. Malasky tries to handle as much of the workload as possible in-house but sends work to Epstein Becker & Green (labor and employment); Jeffers Cowherd of Fairfield, CT (general corporate); San Francisco's Littler Mendelson (labor and employment); Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (bond work); Buffalo, NY-based Phillips Lytle (litigation); and New York firms Donovan & Yee (intellectual property) and Zetlin & De Chiara (construction). Executive Director Gordon Smith and President and Chief Executive Officer Lucy Garvin sit atop the Tennis Association's corporate pyramid.

“There really is no such thing as sports law. It is law as it relates to the sports industry,” Malasky says. Accordingly, his involvement extends to every legal-related aspect of the association. A robust regimen of contracts accounts for the vast majority of the work. The association fashions approximately 1,300 agreements each year for its professional tennis events alone. The legal department drafts deals with: advertisers; media outlets such as CBS, ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel; sponsors; and host venues at home and abroad. Other responsibilities include litigation, labor and mergers and acquisitions. Intellectual property, construction, immigration and nonprofit concerns also are on the menu. “Everything except for family law ' actually, even family law,” Malasky says

Malasky manages all of the association's day-to-day professional activities, from the player-development program spearheaded by former pro Patrick McEnroe (John's younger brother) to its most prominent events and initiatives. The crown jewel of the association's 94 nationwide pro events is the U.S. Open, the world's single largest annual sporting event in terms of attendance ' 721,059 in 2009. The Olympus U.S. Open Series of 10 summer competitions is another highlight, as are the international Davis Cup and Fed Cup tournaments. Malasky works with security directors and federal and local authorities to ensure the smooth operation of these events.

Malasky helps to oversee three facilities and two training centers, including the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY, the world's largest public tennis facility. The association falls under various sanctioning groups, among them ATP World Tour (for men), Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (for women) and the International Tennis Federation.

The U.S. Tennis Association is an active member of the Coalition Against Online Piracy in Sports, formed to combat illegal streaming and other forms of intellectual property piracy. Enforcement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a key tool. The Tennis Association's legal team works with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to ensure players' compliance with the association's drug-testing regulations.

Malasky has a peripheral involvement in insurance matters and, along with the association's equipment managers, is involved in licensing.

' Roger Adler writes for The National Law Journal, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance.

A Look at Legal Work On Haitian Relief Song

By Petra Pasternak

Millions of viewers around the world recently saw the remake of the “We Are the World” song aired at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Steven Chidester, a Rancho Santa Fe, CA, partner with Luce Forward, didn't just see the performance, he was one of a cadre of lawyers who spent two intense weeks working behind the scenes to help create the We Are the World Foundation (www.wearetheworldfoundation.org) on behalf of its founders, Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie. (The original 1985 song, recorded by USA for Africa, raised tens of millions for famine relief.)

The We Are the World Foundation, set up to raise money for Haitian earthquake relief and development, owns the production rights to the song and music video, and helps distribute it through various channels, including iTunes, YouTube, and cable and satellite television, Chidester says. Setting it up in the weeks between the Grammy Awards, when the artists were in town in Los Angeles, and the start of the Olympics involved a hustle for the lawyers.

Chidester, who specializes in estate planning and tax-exempt organizations, says the pro bono project came in through Los Angeles partner Kathy Jorrie with a tight deadline. Jorrie, who's handled entertainment work for client AEG Live for about a decade, got a call in early February from the concert/venue company's General Counsel, Shawn Trell, asking if the firm would take the project on pro bono. “I told him immediately that we would, absolutely.”

Incorporating the nonprofit was the easy part, according to Chidester. Formalizing the relationships for distribution of the video, and for fundraising, was more involved. On Feb. 8, when Chidester was getting ready to register the foundation in all 50 states and planning the tax exemption application to file with the IRS, he was called into a meeting of board members and others at the Bel Air house of Quincy Jones. “It was then that I came to understand that the people at NBC had offered 3 1/2 minutes during the broadcast of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on Feb. 12,” Chidester says.

Working with AEG's in-house legal team and Morrison & Foerster lawyers, the Luce lawyers had five days to finalize the distribution agreements, review the structure and text of the Web site, arrange contracts with YouTube and Google Checkout, and put in place text message short-code donation systems.

Morrison & Foerster Los Angeles partner Russell Weiss says that his firm got involved through one of the “We Are the World” project coordinators. MoFo lawyers focused on preparing and negotiating the broadcast license and sponsorship agreement with the Coca-Cola Co., as well as the broadcast license agreement with iN DEMAND, among other things, Weiss says. The team of about five put in roughly 100 pro bono hours in a week for the project, he adds.

' Petra Pasternak is a Staff Writer for The Recorder, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance.

By Brian Baxter

When the Winter Olympics were underway, the big names on the U.S. squad were already familiar to most of us. But the Olympics are also big business, and some of those names become even bigger after lawyers finish crafting corporate sponsorship agreements.

“A lot of these big companies make deals with athletes to either endorse the product, use their pictures in advertisements or come to a corporate event,” says Kenneth Meyer, Of Counsel in Bryan Cave's Los Angeles office. Meyer, a former senior executive vice president at MGM, helps companies negotiate sponsorship agreements with athletes and entertainment figures. Most of his clients take one of two approaches: wait and see if the athletes win before offering a contract or sign earlier in hopes of getting a better deal.

Nike has perfected the signing-early option, Meyer says, swooping in to get a lower price with the added benefit of watching an athlete blossom under its brand. Some companies, such as Nike, offer bonuses for meeting certain performance standards. “I've seen companies offer different amounts for gold, silver and bronze,” Meyer says. “And in track-and-field you'll have financial incentives for world records.”

Of course, for every reward, there's a personal conduct clause to protect the corporate interest. (Think Tiger Woods.) How strongly worded those clauses are depends on the company, Meyer says. Sports agents will fight for phrasing like “convicted of a felony.” But for Meyer, criminal charges are enough to tarnish the athlete's reputation and diminish their value to sponsors. “On behalf of the company, we usually try and get broad language to cover them should something happen,” he says.

One U.S. athlete that seems to have come out of nowhere is skier Lindsey Vonn, who posed for the cover of Sports Illustrated's Olympic preview issue and the magazine's swimsuit edition.

Though Vonn suffered a shin injury that threatened to cloud her Olympics, Meyer says it would be unusual for a sponsorship deal to include an “opt out” because of injury. He did, however, notice something interesting during Vonn's rapid rise to mainstream recognition. “I was surprised she was able to keep her Red Bull headband on for the Sports Illustrated cover,” Meyer says. “I guess she must have a good contract.” (Meyer declined to speculate on whether Red Bull and Sports Illustrated had reached some sort of quid pro quo that allowed Vonn to don the headband for the cover.)

But, “fame never lasts forever, you need to start life-planning before the cheering stops,” says Bryan Cave counsel Roy Hadley, who advises NBA and NFL players on managing their finances. “I tell my clients that when they're famous is the time to sign deals that can pay out long-term.”

Done right, two weeks of success can turn into a lifetime of fortune. Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno performed on Dancing with the Stars. Snowboarder Shaun White has branched out into video games and remained an extreme sport staple. And many years after her last Winter Olympics, Picabo Street, a skier who had a shin injury just like Vonn's, still has sponsors.

' Brian Baxter is a Reporter with The American Lawyer, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance.

By Roger Adler

The U.S. Tennis Association is the sport's national governing body. Established in 1881, the nonprofit organization invests 100% of its proceeds in promoting and developing tennis at all levels, from the grassroots to professional play. The association counts more than 700,000 members and thousands more volunteers; it has 350 employees.

Senior Counsel Dan Malasky runs the association's professional tennis arm. The legal team comprises four attorneys assisted by three paralegals, a pair of administrative assistants and a records coordinator. Malasky tries to handle as much of the workload as possible in-house but sends work to Epstein Becker & Green (labor and employment); Jeffers Cowherd of Fairfield, CT (general corporate); San Francisco's Littler Mendelson (labor and employment); Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (bond work); Buffalo, NY-based Phillips Lytle (litigation); and New York firms Donovan & Yee (intellectual property) and Zetlin & De Chiara (construction). Executive Director Gordon Smith and President and Chief Executive Officer Lucy Garvin sit atop the Tennis Association's corporate pyramid.

“There really is no such thing as sports law. It is law as it relates to the sports industry,” Malasky says. Accordingly, his involvement extends to every legal-related aspect of the association. A robust regimen of contracts accounts for the vast majority of the work. The association fashions approximately 1,300 agreements each year for its professional tennis events alone. The legal department drafts deals with: advertisers; media outlets such as CBS, ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel; sponsors; and host venues at home and abroad. Other responsibilities include litigation, labor and mergers and acquisitions. Intellectual property, construction, immigration and nonprofit concerns also are on the menu. “Everything except for family law ' actually, even family law,” Malasky says

Malasky manages all of the association's day-to-day professional activities, from the player-development program spearheaded by former pro Patrick McEnroe (John's younger brother) to its most prominent events and initiatives. The crown jewel of the association's 94 nationwide pro events is the U.S. Open, the world's single largest annual sporting event in terms of attendance ' 721,059 in 2009. The Olympus U.S. Open Series of 10 summer competitions is another highlight, as are the international Davis Cup and Fed Cup tournaments. Malasky works with security directors and federal and local authorities to ensure the smooth operation of these events.

Malasky helps to oversee three facilities and two training centers, including the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY, the world's largest public tennis facility. The association falls under various sanctioning groups, among them ATP World Tour (for men), Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (for women) and the International Tennis Federation.

The U.S. Tennis Association is an active member of the Coalition Against Online Piracy in Sports, formed to combat illegal streaming and other forms of intellectual property piracy. Enforcement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a key tool. The Tennis Association's legal team works with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to ensure players' compliance with the association's drug-testing regulations.

Malasky has a peripheral involvement in insurance matters and, along with the association's equipment managers, is involved in licensing.

' Roger Adler writes for The National Law Journal, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance.