Loeb and Spotify Partner on Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Cases

Loeb & Loeb is pleased to announce that a group of Loeb lawyers have teamed up with Spotify to support pro bono clients from Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA), a New York-based legal aid nonprofit dedicated to supporting low-income artists and art and cultural organizations. 

Loeb and Spotify have committed to take on six separate VLA matters in which the firm’s lawyers and counsel from Spotify will work together to provide legal assistance to low-income artists and art organizations, including a chamber music group, an independent filmmaker, a documentary film organization, a visual artist, a playwright and a symphony orchestra. Seventeen Loeb lawyers and 16 in-house counsel from Spotify are counseling on various pro bono matters, including copyright, drafting licensing agreements and contract negotiations.

Anne Kennedy McGuire, chair of the firm’s Podcast practice and facilitator of the firm’s pro bono partnership with Spotify, said, “I am thrilled that Loeb and Spotify have united together to lend a hand to Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts to help protect the livelihoods and creative works of artists. I look forward to seeing all the great work we will accomplish for VLA’s pro bono clients.”

“For more than 50 years, VLA has helped countless low-income artists achieve their legal needs and goals,” said Barry Slotnick, chair of Loeb’s Intellectual Property and Entertainment Litigation practice and a member of VLA’s board of directors. “The impact of VLA has been profound. Free legal assistance goes a long way in the artistic community, and I am proud that we are able to help provide that to these talented individuals and organizations.”

The program kicked off on Feb. 21 with a virtual meeting between the Loeb and Spotify lawyers, consisting of an introduction from VLA followed by team meetings in breakout rooms to discuss client outreach and next steps.

“Here at Spotify, we are always looking for new ways to support those in the arts community,” said Linna Chen, senior legal counsel within the Litigation & Copyright team at Spotify and Loeb alumna. “We are excited to offer this pro bono opportunity to our team at Spotify, working alongside Loeb to assist and empower these gifted artists.”

Emma Frean, Associate Director of Legal Services, said, "This partnership with Loeb and Spotify was an important step to helping VLA achieve its mission to provide pro bono legal services to artists in New York. As a result of this initiative, VLA was able to increase the delivery of legal services to pro bono clients by 25 percent."

In addition to Anne and Barry, the Loeb lawyers participating as pro bono volunteers include Brian Heidelberger, chair of the Advertising, Marketing & Promotions practice; partner Kristen Klesh; of counsel Eyvonne Mallett; senior counsels Ted Paraskevas and Jonathan Thielbar; and associates Edward Delman, Jesse Hogin, Ryan Kashfian, Jordan Meddy, Sam Raffa, Matt Regan, Devon Spencer, Medha Sridhar, Lisa Wiznitzer and Erica Yang.

To learn more about VLA, please visit the nonprofit’s website.