Pro Bono Trial Services for Individual Copyright Owners & Small Businesses In the New York City Area

http://copyrightalliance.org/content/pro_bono_trial_services_0

The Copyright Alliance is partnering with New York based Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP to assist in finding potential clients for an externship program to provide free legal representation to individuals and small businesses in lawsuits involving cutting edge copyright issues. Through this initiative, Columbia law school students, under the supervision of Cravath attorneys David Marriott and David Kappos, will provide pro bono legal counsel to individuals and small businesses on copyright cases. The goal of the program is to teach trial skills to students in the context of copyright disputes.

To select potential clients for the program, we will consider each application individually based on a combination of factors including the following:

Whether the candidate is an individual artist/creator or a small business in the New York Metro Area and aligns with the Copyright Alliance’s mission of promoting the cultural and economic benefits of copyright.
Whether the dispute involves a copyright matter. For instance, unauthorized copying or public performance of a protected work. Preference will be given to cases presenting interesting copyright issues.
Whether the individual or small business is unable to afford legal services. Although the client will not be responsible for legal fees, the client will be responsible for any out of pocket expenses such as filing and registration fees, travel expenses, etc.
Whether the dispute is new and ripe for litigation. Although all chosen cases should be appropriate for litigation, please note that some cases might result in some form of settlement agreement. Cases not chosen for this externship experience will be considered for referral to other clinics and/or maintained in a Copyright Alliance database and available to Copyright Alliance Legal Advisory Board members interested in taking on pro bono matters.
Whether resolution of the case would benefit more than one party and/or establish helpful precedent for other members of the creative community.
Whether the candidate’s work provides a benefit to the community.
The complexity of the case.
The variety of the program’s caseload and the number of clients already being represented.

The Copyright Alliance will accept applications on a rolling basis.

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