Common questions

Additional hours are available at preferred member rates — always confirmed with you before the work begins, so there are never surprise bills. If you find yourself going over regularly, we’ll recommend moving up a plan at your next monthly renewal.

No. Each plan is sized for a typical month, and the monthly fee reserves your attorney’s availability whether or not you use every hour. If your needs are consistently lighter or heavier than your plan, you can switch plans at any monthly renewal.

Plans are month-to-month — cancel anytime with 30 days’ written notice, and fees are prorated through the effective date. If business goes quiet for a season, ask about pausing instead of cancelling so we can keep your file and context warm.

Plans cover ongoing counsel: contracts, governance, compliance, and strategic advice. Litigation, disputes, and major transactions — like a financing closing or an acquisition — are scoped as separate engagements at preferred member rates, and anything outside our practice goes to trusted counsel in our referral network. Your engagement agreement spells out the boundaries in plain English.

Five steps: a complimentary consultation, a conflict check, a written engagement agreement, and then a Legal Health Check — a review of your key documents and obligations that produces a prioritized 90-day roadmap. Your first strategy session typically happens within the first two weeks.

Essential fits early-stage companies, working creatives, and lean organizations with steady but lighter needs. Professional fits growing companies, established talent, and organizations where legal questions come up weekly and a team needs access. Fractional General Counsel is the working GC seat — for organizations that want counsel in the room every week, running board materials and paperwork end-to-end. Flagship is the officer seat: your general counsel of record, named in the governance documents, with scope set by the role rather than an hour count — offered in limited seats.

Yes. The Talent & Creatives track exists for exactly that: actors, models, musicians, fine artists, designers, and content creators whose careers run on deals and rights. Your career is the enterprise; the program gives it the same standing counsel a company would have.

Transparently. You receive a monthly summary of hours used and matters handled, and your strategy sessions include a look at how your plan is being used — so the value is always visible and the plan always fits.

Always. A conflict check runs before every engagement, and we monitor as your matters evolve. If a conflict ever arises, we tell you immediately and help you find the right counsel.

Yes — move up or down at any monthly renewal. Most clients start with Essential or Professional and adjust once a few months of real usage shows what they actually need.

Before the first irreversible decision — usually entity formation, founder equity splits, and IP assignment. Those three, done early, are inexpensive; unwinding them later rarely is.

No. We work with bootstrapped businesses, funded startups, and companies in between. The legal fundamentals — clean formation, enforceable contracts, protected IP, sound governance — are the same regardless of how you finance growth.

Yes — SAFEs, convertible notes, and priced rounds, from term sheet review through closing. If a round’s scale calls for additional hands, we say so and coordinate rather than stretch.

At minimum: assignment agreements from every founder, employee, and contractor who touches the product; trademark filings for the name you’re building equity in; and confidentiality practices that hold up. We scope what your stage actually needs — not a portfolio you don’t.

Yes. Many clients use us for corporate and contract work while keeping counsel they trust elsewhere for other matters. We coordinate cleanly and stay in our lane.

Defined-scope and flat-fee engagements wherever the work allows, confirmed in a written engagement agreement before anything begins. Companies with steady monthly needs often do better on a General Counsel plan.

A complimentary consultation, a conflict check, and a written engagement agreement — then we get to work. For General Counsel plan clients, onboarding includes a Legal Health Check of your formation documents, cap table, contracts, and compliance posture.

Yes — diligence readiness, corporate cleanup, and negotiation support. The best exit preparation starts well before a buyer appears, which is exactly the kind of work an ongoing counsel relationship is built for.

No. We represent the full creative spectrum — musicians, actors, dancers, models, fine artists, designers, and content creators. If your career runs on deals, rights, and reputation, the work is the same discipline: protect the art and the income it generates.

Yes — contract review and negotiation is core work, whether it’s a recording deal, brand partnership, management agreement, gallery consignment, or licensing arrangement. Tell us the signing deadline in the intake form and we’ll scope the turnaround in your consultation.

Yes. O-1, P, and EB-1 petitions for artists and performers are part of our entertainment practice — one of the few areas of immigration we handle precisely because it lives inside the entertainment world.

Closely, and with clear lanes. Your representatives drive opportunities; we make sure the agreements behind them protect you — including the agreements with your representatives themselves, which deserve independent review.

Maison Talent Collective is a talent management company that shares ownership with the firm. They are separate businesses — legal services come only from the law firm, and management is never legal advice — but the shared perspective is the point: our counsel is informed by the daily practice of managing creative careers. Clients who work with both receive written disclosure, and conflicts are addressed before any joint work begins.

We handle contract disputes and arbitration in the entertainment space. Bring the documents and the timeline; we’ll assess your position candidly before recommending a path — many disputes resolve through negotiation without a formal proceeding.

Often less than you’d think — much of entertainment contract work is not state-specific, and visa petitions are federal. Where a matter genuinely requires counsel admitted elsewhere, we say so up front and coordinate or refer through our network.

Most talent matters are handled on flat-fee or defined-scope engagements, so you know the cost before work begins. Every fee is confirmed in a written engagement agreement.

Yes — our General Counsel plans give working artists and creators standing counsel for a fixed monthly fee, with dedicated hours and priority response. See the Talent & Creatives track on the General Counsel page.

Timelines vary with USCIS processing and the strength of the petition file. Premium processing, when elected, commits USCIS to act within 15 business days of filing. We scope the realistic timeline for your situation in the initial consultation — including lead time for gathering evidence and union consultations.

Most artist matters are handled on flat-fee or defined-scope engagements, typically beginning at $500, so you know the cost before work begins. Every fee is confirmed in a written engagement agreement.

Yes. Everything you share through the intake process is treated as confidential and reviewed under a preliminary conflict check, whether or not an engagement follows.

Yes. Immigration petitions are federal, and much of entertainment contract work is not state-specific. Where a matter requires counsel admitted in another state, we say so up front and can coordinate or refer through our network.

We run a preliminary conflict check and respond within one business day. The first step is a complimentary 15-minute consultation to understand your situation and confirm whether we’re the right fit — there’s no obligation.

O-1B is for individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement in the arts, motion picture, or television. It requires evidence of sustained national or international acclaim. P-1 covers internationally recognized individual athletes and entertainment groups performing at a specific event or series of events; P-3 is for artists or entertainers coming to perform, teach, or coach in a culturally unique program. The right category depends on your career profile, the type of engagement, and how your credentials are documented — we assess this in the initial consultation.

USCIS evaluates a combination of factors: critical roles at distinguished organizations, press coverage, high remuneration relative to peers, original contributions of significant import, lead or starring roles, recognition from industry judges or panels, and similar criteria. No single element is required — the file is built around the strongest combination available for your specific career. We work with you to identify and document that evidence before filing.

Timelines vary with USCIS processing volumes and the strength of the petition file. Premium processing, when elected, commits USCIS to act within 15 business days of filing. We scope a realistic timeline for your situation in the initial consultation — including lead time for gathering evidence and any required union consultations.

Yes. P visa regulations generally require a consultation from a labor organization with jurisdiction over the relevant field. We coordinate the consultation process with the appropriate union or guild as part of petition preparation.

Whether you may continue to perform or work while a petition is pending depends on your current immigration status, the type of petition filed, and whether you are in the US or abroad. We address this specifically for your situation before filing — it is one of the most important questions to resolve early.

Yes. EB-1A (extraordinary ability) and EB-1B (outstanding professor or researcher, sometimes applicable) are immigrant pathways that parallel the O-1 standard. EB-1A is self-petitioned and does not require a job offer. The evidentiary framework is more demanding than the nonimmigrant O-1 but the underlying evidence categories are similar. We can evaluate whether your current file supports an immigrant petition alongside or following a nonimmigrant filing.

Immigration matters are handled on flat-fee or defined-scope engagements — figures are confirmed in your engagement agreement, so you know the cost before work begins. Government filing fees are separate and depend on the petition type and processing option elected. Every fee is confirmed in a written engagement agreement before any work begins.

We run a preliminary conflict check and respond within one business day. The first step is a complimentary 15-minute consultation to understand your situation, assess whether a visa pathway fits, and confirm whether we are the right fit — no obligation on either side.

IRS processing times vary considerably with the form used and the IRS’s backlog — from a few weeks for the streamlined Form 1023-EZ to many months for a full Form 1023. We scope the realistic timeline for your organization in the initial consultation.

Incorporation and certificate filing, bylaws drafted for how your board will actually operate, the IRS exemption application, the state charities registration New York requires, and the governance policies — conflict of interest and whistleblower among them — that New York nonprofit law expects.

Yes. Board governance is a core part of the practice: fiduciary duty guidance, meeting and resolution practice, policy development, and training sessions for new and seasoned boards alike.

Ongoing compliance (990 review, state filings), grant and sponsorship agreements, employment questions, governance disputes, and structural changes like affiliations or fiscal sponsorships. Organizations with steady needs often fit our General Counsel plan for nonprofits.

Personal liability for volunteer board members is limited under New York law when duties are met, but it is not zero — which is why current policies, real conflict-of-interest practices, and appropriate insurance matter. We help boards put those protections in place.

Flat fees for defined work like formation and policy packages, with government filing fees additional. Every fee is confirmed in a written engagement agreement before work begins.

Yes — private foundations with active grantmaking, operating charities, and hybrid structures. Foundation work has its own rules (self-dealing, payout, expenditure responsibility) that we navigate regularly.

Yes. Everything you share through intake is treated as confidential and reviewed under a preliminary conflict check, whether or not an engagement follows.

Yes — that’s who this practice is built for. Most nonprofit matters are handled on flat-fee or defined-scope engagements with the fee stated up front, and organizations with ongoing needs can hold a General Counsel plan at a fixed monthly cost the board can budget for. Every fee is confirmed in a written engagement agreement before work begins.

Often, yes. Federal tax-exemption work, Form 990 questions, and general governance practices are not state-specific. Where a matter turns on another state’s law — a state charitable registration question, for example — we say so up front and coordinate with, or refer you to, counsel admitted there.

Yes. The General Counsel Program has a track built for nonprofits: ongoing counsel on a fixed monthly plan that keeps governance current, reviews your agreements, and answers compliance questions before the deadline — the working general-counsel seat most organizations can’t justify hiring full-time.

No — and that’s deliberate. We focus on the legal-judgment and governance layer: the decisions, documents, and policies where an attorney’s counsel matters. Routine bookkeeping and volume filing services are commodity work, and we’ll point you to right-sized providers for them rather than bill attorney rates for clerical tasks.

Yes. Everything you share through the intake process is treated as confidential and reviewed under a preliminary conflict check, whether or not an engagement follows.

We run a preliminary conflict check and respond within one business day. The first step is a complimentary 15-minute consultation to understand your organization and confirm whether we’re the right fit — there’s no obligation.

The recurring legal work of running the organization: keeping bylaws and board policies current, reviewing grant and vendor agreements before signature, advising on conflicts and executive compensation, answering compliance questions as they arise, and flagging issues before they become board-meeting emergencies.

Yes. We counsel boards on the 990-series filing that fits the organization, New York CHAR500 obligations, and what those public filings communicate to funders — and we coordinate with your accountant so the legal and financial sides tell the same story.

With formation done in the right order: a certificate of incorporation with the purpose and dissolution language the IRS requires, bylaws and a conflict-of-interest policy, federal tax exemption, and the New York registrations that make fundraising lawful. We handle the sequence end to end.

Yes. Private foundation formation is offered as a single defined-scope engagement: the entity with the provisions the IRS requires, bylaws and governance policies, and the Form 1023 exemption application, with IRS correspondence handled through the determination letter. Families who want the foundation administered after launch can engage Meridian Philanthropic — a philanthropic services firm owned by this firm’s founder, and not a law firm — always under written disclosure, and always with the freedom to choose any administrator.

The legal engagement is a $9,500 flat fee covering entity formation, the governance documents, the EIN and organizational minutes, and the Form 1023 exemption application, with IRS correspondence handled through the determination letter. The IRS user fee and state filing fees are additional and are confirmed with you before filing. Beyond the legal work, plan for the assets you intend to contribute and the ongoing costs of running the foundation — annual filings, any excise tax on investment income, and administration.

The formation stage — the entity, the governance documents, and the EIN — generally moves at the pace of state processing and your own decisions about the board and initial funding. The federal stage depends on IRS processing volumes, which vary considerably and are outside anyone’s control. We prepare the Form 1023 to answer the questions the IRS actually asks, handle any follow-up correspondence through the determination letter, and scope a realistic sequence for your situation at the outset rather than promise dates.

There is no legal minimum. As a practical matter, a private foundation carries real ongoing obligations — annual Form 990-PF reporting, an excise tax on net investment income, and a minimum annual distribution requirement — so the question is whether the assets you plan to commit justify that structure. For some families the answer is yes at a modest scale, because control and legacy matter to them; for others, a donor-advised fund is the better fit until the giving grows. We will tell you plainly which side of that line we believe you are on.

Often, yes — and for many donors it is the right answer. A donor-advised fund is faster to open, has no separate entity to maintain, and its sponsoring organization handles the administration. What it does not offer is legal control: grants are made on your recommendation rather than your instruction, the sponsoring organization owns the assets once contributed, and the fund cannot employ staff or run its own programs the way a foundation can. The comparison on this page lays out the trade-offs; the honest summary is that the two structures solve different problems.

This firm does the legal work: forming the entity, drafting the governance documents, preparing and filing the exemption application, and handling IRS correspondence through the determination letter. Meridian Philanthropic — a philanthropic services firm owned by this firm’s founder, and not a law firm — offers non-legal foundation administration after launch: governance operations, grants management, and the compliance calendar. The two are separate engagements under separate agreements, and you are always free to engage any administrator you choose, or none at all.

In most cases, yes. The foundation is formed as a New York entity, and the federal exemption — the Form 1023 — is a matter of federal law, not state law. Our attorney is admitted in New York and practices New York and federal law; where a question turns on another state’s law, such as a home-state charitable registration requirement, we say so up front and coordinate with, or refer you to, counsel admitted there.

The fee covers the defined scope on this page: the entity with the purpose and dissolution provisions the IRS requires, bylaws and a conflict-of-interest policy drafted for a family-governed board, the EIN and organizational minutes, preparation and filing of the Form 1023, IRS correspondence through the determination letter, and a coordinated handoff to the administrator of your choice at launch. The IRS user fee and state filing fees are additional and are confirmed before filing. Work after launch — annual filings, tax returns, and administration — is a separate engagement, whether with this firm, your accountant, or an administrator.

Yes — most private foundations are family-governed, and the governing documents are drafted for exactly that. What family control requires is discipline around the private-foundation rules: self-dealing restrictions, the annual minimum distribution, and excise-tax provisions that reach transactions between the foundation and the people closest to it. The bylaws and conflict-of-interest policy we prepare are built so a family board can meet those rules as a matter of routine.

Both, on separate tracks. Companies get counsel on adopting AI without legal exposure: policies, vendor contracts, IP, and governance. Law firms get something narrower and rarer — an attorney advising the firm itself on AI governance, ethics compliance, and training.

In practical terms: clear written policies on how AI may be used in client work, training for lawyers and staff on its benefits and risks, competence in evaluating the tools, and attention to confidentiality, supervision, and billing when AI is involved. Most firms have adopted tools faster than policies — closing that gap is the core of our law-firm engagement.

Yes. Carriers increasingly ask which AI tools a firm uses, whether a written governance policy exists, and how staff are trained. We help firms answer honestly and well — building the governance the questionnaire is probing for, not just the answers.

Yes — against the due-diligence criteria bar guidance now expects: data retention, training-data practices, security posture, and contract terms. The deliverable is a plain-English assessment you can act on and show your carrier or clients.

It usually starts with a readiness and risk review of how AI actually touches your business — data, vendors, IP, output use — and produces a prioritized plan: the policies, contract terms, and guardrails worth building first.

Yes — practical sessions for legal teams and law firm staff on responsible AI use, designed around current bar guidance and your firm’s own policy. Format and depth scale from a single workshop to a standing program.

Defined-scope and fixed-fee wherever possible, scoped on consultation and confirmed in a written engagement agreement before work begins. Ongoing governance support is available on a retainer basis.

Yes — including for law firms, where we understand the sensitivity of discussing internal practices. Every engagement begins with a conflict check, and what you share through intake is treated as confidential whether or not an engagement follows.

A trademark protects a word, phrase, logo, or other source identifier as used on specific goods or services — it’s what stops someone else from using a confusingly similar brand in your market. A copyright protects original creative expression (the writing, the design, the recording itself), not the brand name attached to it. And registering a business name — an LLC or corporation name with a state, or a DBA — only reserves that name within that state’s business registry; it does not, by itself, give you nationwide trademark rights or stop a competitor elsewhere from using a similar brand. The three protect different things and none substitutes for the others.

A knockout search is a preliminary review of the USPTO register, and, where useful, common-law and business-name sources, aimed at catching obvious conflicts before you spend money on an application. It is not an exhaustive clearance investigation, and it cannot predict how a USPTO examining attorney will ultimately assess likelihood of confusion, nor can it surface every unregistered use in the marketplace. A full clearance opinion goes deeper than a knockout search, but even that remains a risk assessment — not a guarantee that the USPTO will agree.

An office action is a formal letter from the USPTO examining attorney identifying an issue with the application — it can be substantive (for example, a conflict with an existing registration, or a finding that the mark is merely descriptive) or purely procedural (a missing specimen, a required disclaimer, a correction to the identification of goods). Office actions are a routine, common part of examination; a large share of applications receive at least one, and receiving one is not, on its own, a sign the application has failed.

Examination pace is set entirely by the USPTO’s own workload, not by any attorney, so we don’t quote a date — the USPTO doesn’t give us one. In general terms, a filed application typically waits before an examining attorney is assigned, and if it proceeds without a refusal that needs a response, it moves into a publication period that allows third parties to oppose before registration. We’ll tell you where a given filing stands in that sequence at any point; what we won’t do is promise you a finish date.

A §1(a) ‘use in commerce’ filing is available once you are actually selling the goods or offering the services under the mark, and it requires a specimen showing that real-world use. A §1(b) ‘intent to use’ filing is available before you’ve started selling — it’s based on a good-faith intention to use the mark and reserves your filing date, but before the mark can register you’ll need to file a statement of use, with its own USPTO fee and deadlines, once actual use begins. Which basis applies affects both how the application is drafted and what has to happen after it’s otherwise approved.

A trademark registration isn’t permanent by default; it stays alive only if you keep filing proof that the mark is still in use. The §8 declaration, due between the 5th and 6th year after registration and again every ten years alongside the §9 renewal, confirms continued use (or excusable nonuse) and requires a specimen. Missing the deadline — and the six-month grace period that follows it, with a late fee — causes the USPTO to cancel the registration. Once that happens, the rights generally have to be rebuilt from a new application rather than simply revived.

Yes. Trademark prosecution before the USPTO is federal practice, and any attorney admitted to practice law in a U.S. jurisdiction and in good standing may represent applicants nationwide, regardless of which state’s bar they belong to — no separate USPTO admission or examination is required for this work. Anthony Clemenza is licensed in New York and represents trademark applicants under that federal authority for clients anywhere in the United States.

These engagements cover clearance, filing, and prosecution of an ordinary application, routine office-action responses, and post-registration maintenance. They do not include trademark litigation, oppositions or cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, or international filings beyond an initial discussion of whether the Madrid Protocol fits your situation. Those are separate, scoped engagements, quoted on their own once we understand what’s actually involved.

No. Valuation is a separate discipline. USPAP-compliant appraisals are provided through our affiliated wine house, Prestige Vin — which never buys or sells wine, so there is no resale conflict — and we coordinate that work with your plan. You are free to use any appraiser you choose.

Valuable personal property is routinely under-documented. Without a current valuation, clear title, and explicit instructions, a collection can create estate-tax exposure, family disputes, and forced sales. Addressing it deliberately avoids all three.

Gifts of collections can be tax-efficient, but the IRS requires a qualified appraisal for non-cash donations over $5,000 (Form 8283). We structure the gift and coordinate the appraisal so the deduction is defensible.

Yes. We coordinate with your estate counsel, accountant, and insurance broker rather than replace them — focusing on the collection-specific structuring and the valuation handoff.