Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts is happy to announce two great new events in the new year — please join us for either, or both!

One-Day Negotiation Training: Tuesday, January 27th; please click here to register

Litigation Workshop: Thursday, January 29th

Details:

One-Day Negotiation Training
When: Tuesday, January 27, 2009: 10am — 6pm
Where: Manhattan Location TBA.
Who: For both artists and attorneys.
CLE: YES, CLE credit is being offered for this event. Mostly Areas of Professional Practice credits and Skills credits, plus 1 Ethics credit. This program qualifies as transitional for newly admitted attorneys.
Cost:
– Artists: $100 with registration by January 9th; $150 after January 9th
– Attorneys: $275 with registration by January 9th; $325 after January 9th
Note: The completion of this program does NOT qualify you to be a volunteer through MediateArt, VLA’s mediation, contract negotiation, and negotiation counseling department. Serving as a MediateArt volunteer requires the completion of our MediateArt Training Program, to be offered later in 2009.

Program Description: A one-day overview of basic and more advanced negotiation skills, including contract negotiation and deal mediation (deal memo mediation). This is a good overview of negotiation for anyone, regardless of area of discipline, although there will be some focus on arts and entertainment issues in particular.

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Litigation Workshop: “The Nuts and Bolts of Entertainment Law Litigation”
Co-sponsored by EASL, the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law section of the New York State Bar Association
When: Thursday, January 29, 2009: 6pm — 8pm
Where: VLA’s Lobby Auditorium; 1 East 53rd Street (northeast corner of 53rd & 5th).
Who: For both artists and attorneys, but primarily geared towards artists.
CLE: NO, CLE credit is not being offered for this event.
Cost: $25 for artists; $50 for attorneys

Program Description: This two-hour program will cover “the nuts and bolts of entertainment law litigation,” including how to draft and reply to cease and desist letters, and what happens if you ignore one; how to initiate a lawsuit and how to reply to one; how to find a lawyer if you want to sue someone or need to defend a lawsuit; and what happens once litigation has been initiated, including how to analyze when and whether to settle.

Since 1969, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has been the leading provider of pro bono legal services, mediation services, educational programs and publications, and advocacy to the arts community in New York. The first arts-related legal aid organization, VLA is the model for similar organizations around the world. For more information about Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, please see www.vlany.org.

Reposted from the old blog where it was posted only last week. But good reviews need to be preserved for posterity.

This is one of those blog reviews that makes you dance and sing, and very happy you got out of bed in the morning.

I know it is the way of the big ego to be too happy with good reviews, but this writer hit many of the points I am trying to make with my book, so that has given me a boost. From Cheerful Megalomaniac:

One of the things that I was extremely surprised to see in there, is a man’s addiction to the “Nexus” a communications network somewhat akin to the internet. He actually becomes numb to humanity because he is so enthralled by the flow of information; whats the point in knowing everything, if you care for nothing? Any comic book that looks at the effect extreme internet addiction can have on someone life, but more importantly WHY the internet is so seductive, is pretty fine, IMHO.

You know, I created that scene before I ever spent a little too much time on the internet, having to download Leechblock, so I really do need to listen to the warnings in my own stories!

Click the SHOP link above to buy my books.

And thanks, Cheerful Megalomaniac!

c