Mondo.NYC Speaker
Lisa E. Davis
Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC
Lisa E. Davis is a partner in the Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz Entertainment Group representing businesses and celebrities in the film, television, publishing, music, theatre, and sports industries. She is recognized in Best Lawyers in America 2020 (Entertainment), by City & State as one of New York’s “Responsible 100” (2019), by the Black Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Association (2019 Beacon of Industry Award), by Crain’s New York Business 2017 as a “Leading Woman Lawyer in NYC”, by The National Law Journal (“Outstanding Women Lawyers” 2015), by Savoy magazine in their “Most Influential Black Lawyers of 2015,” and in Variety’s “Power of Women New York Impact Report” (2014). Ms. Davis advises on a full range of transactional matters - focusing on film (both feature and documentary), television, publishing, live stage and branded entertainment. Ms. Davis represents directors, writers and performers in film and television, as well as playwrights and bloggers. In her sports practice, she represents top athletes in their “off the field” activities, including endorsements and investments. Ms. Davis is chair of the board of the Urbanworld Film Festival Foundation. Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, she clerked for the Honorable Constance Baker Motley in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Davis is a graduate of Harvard University (BA, 1981) and New York University (JD, 1985), where she was a staff member of the New York University Law Review and a Root-Tilden scholar. She is admitted to practice in New York.
CLE: Pivoting from Live to Virtual: Navigating the Legal Challenges
10/16/20, 2:00 PM
The COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate and devastating impact on the live entertainment sector. After SXSW was canceled in early March, other festivals quickly followed suit, first postponing and then canceling their 2020 live events. Many festival presenters are pivoting to a virtual model, which presents its own set of legal issues for festival organizers, including, but not limited to, the licenses required for performing music virtually, navigating restrictions imposed by platforms such as Facebook and Instagram Live and challenges to monetization posed by music label blocking rights. This panel will discuss evolving strategies for addressing these issues.