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Man of La Mancha Revival Dispute Involves Whether Attorney/Client Relationship Arose
A thorny concern for lawyers is whether — and if so, when — an attorney/client relationship has been formed with a party with whom the lawyer has entered into a business arrangement. Current litigation over an agreement involving theatrical production rights to the Tony Award-winning musical Man of La Mancha (MOLM) offers some perspective on the issue. Abraham v. Leigh, 17 Civ. 5429 (S.D.N.Y.).
The lawsuit grew out of a Jan. 6, 2014, meeting between attorney Robyn Abraham and MOLM composer Mitch Leigh to discuss a 50th anniversary 2015 revival production of MOLM. On January 23, Abraham and Leigh entered into a two-page Talent Agreement, which Abraham drafted, that gave Abraham "the sole and exclusive legal and business rights for six months to represent [MOLM] in England and United Kingdom for the purpose of obtaining initial professional interest" in a revival production.
In 2017, she filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking compensation, claiming she had fulfilled her contractual obligations. The defendants included: Abby Leigh, the executrix for the estate of Mitch Leigh, who died in March 2014; the executrix for the estate of La Mancha book writer Dale Wasserman; and the executrix for the estate of La Mancha lyricist Joseph Darion. Abby Leigh filed a counterclaim against Abraham for breach of fiduciary obligation in the drafting and signing of the Talent Agreement. The executrix alleged that during the January 6, 2014, meeting, Mitch Leigh had hired Abraham as his counsel, but Abraham didn't provide him with "the opportunity[] to seek independent legal advice from other counsel with respect to the Talent Agreement."
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