FTM Arts Law, About Us

FTM Arts Law began with Jonathan Ginsburg and Brian Taylor Goldstein, principals in the law firm of Fettmann, Tolchin and Majors, PC. Jonathan is one of the nation's foremost immigration attorneys, as well as a well-known bon vivant and witty humorist. He is a renowned expert in the field of immigration issues for foreign artists and arts professionals and has twice been named one of Washington, D.C.'s Best Immigration Lawyers by Washingtonian magazine. Brian, who was recently named by Washingtonian magazine as one of Washington, D.C.'s Best Entertainment Attorneys, is an experienced litigator, as well as a writer, actor, and obsessive Anglophile. He has an extensive background in the arts, including his own theater company. Together, they created FTM Arts Law to provide comprehensive legal services exclusively to the arts and entertainment community and to establish a legal practice sensitive to its unique needs, personalities, and challenges.

While many of our clients initially came to us for help with the labyrinthine challenges of obtaining visas and green cards for foreign artists, they remained for all of the business and legal affairs services typically handled by in-house lawyers and general counsel. The demand for our services, along with a considerable degree of good fortune, eventually led us to Robyn Guilliams, an extraordinary arts attorney with an impressive career in arts administration and management and an even more impressive knowledge of the key players and denizens of the arts community. Last, but by no means least, our team includes Andi Floyd, an incomparable paralegal of such unearthly proficiency and uncanny wisdom that her phone number can be found on the speed dial of some of the most significant managers, agents, producers, artists, and arts administrators in the world.

In 2010, FTM Arts Law was honored to be selected by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters as the recipient of the 2010 Sidney R. Yates Advocacy Award for Outstanding Advocacy On Behalf of The Performing Arts. FTM Arts Law was selected for the award in recognition of its successful advocacy efforts to improve the process by which foreign artists and performers obtain visas and work authorization to enter the United States; its acclaimed workshops and seminars proving basic legal knowledge and business skills to artists and arts professionals; and the fundamental impact of its work on the arts industry.
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How FTM Arts Brings Value to Your Business

Any decent attorney can find 1000 things wrong with a proposed agreement or opportunity. Merely getting out of bed in the morning is riddled with potential liability and risk. Much harder, but far more important, is providing practical, insightful, and productive solutions for evaluating and addressing those risks and problems. An encyclopedic comprehension of the law is useless if not combined with an appreciation that the arts and entertainment industry is, at its core, a small community which depends on close relationships and on maintaining positive and creative working environments.

At FTM Arts Law, we don't just know the law, we know how to apply it to the arts and entertainment field. We don't consider ourselves a part of the legal profession which happens to have arts clients. Rather, we see ourselves as a part of the arts and entertainment industry that provides uniquely tailored business and legal services. This critical distinction and perspective allows us to provide an incomparable level of service and value to our clients in a number of ways:

First, by having a large number of clients in many different aspects of the same industry—artists, as well as managers, agents, presenters, promoters, administrators, and producers—we not only have valuable insights into industry practices and standards, but can be helpful in creating introductions, contacts, relationships and opportunities for our clients.

Second, in addition to addressing each client's specific legal needs and issues, we work as an integral part of a client's team, assisting them and their other advisors with all aspects of planning and evaluating their business and legal affairs, forestalling later problems and emergencies, and allowing our clients to focus on what they do best: create.

Third, our clients can expect a style of practice and level of commitment that is consistent with our role in the arts and entertainment industry and highly unusual when compared to more traditional law firms:

1. We will never advise you to spend more to litigate a dispute than the dispute is worth
2. We will not complicate that which should be simple
3. We will take the time to answer your questions
4. We will help you identify what you can do on your own
5. We will not advise you to sacrifice your relationships for short term goals
6. We will always give you the advice you need, rather than the advice you want to hear
7. We will not charge you for socializing

1. We will never advise you to spend more to litigate a dispute than the dispute is worth

Too many attorneys are more than happy to charge their clients $10,000 or more to litigate a matter worth $5,000. We have seen far too many instances where artists and other arts professionals, fueled by a Molotov cocktail of emotion, righteous indignation, and an attorney unwilling or unable to pull his or her client back to reality, have foolishly pursued litigation. Even where they won the case, they suffered damaged reputations, lost creative opportunities, and incurred absurd amounts of legal expenses. We do not and will not let our clients do this. Just because you have a legal right to do something, doesn't mean it's in your best interest to do so. While we are more than ready, willing, and able to mount a vigorous offense or defense on behalf of our clients when necessary, we will make every effort to explore all other options first. We will also be the first to tell you if you're embarking on a crusade that will only result in an empty victory.

2. We will not complicate that which should be simple

Most attorneys cannot mail a letter without three contracts, four hours of research, and a lawsuit. This is because it's much easier to treat every situation and transaction with the same degree of rigid complexity, obsessive paranoia, and legalistic overkill rather than take the time needed to determine the degree of legal services actually needed. By contrast, the number one request of most of our clients is to make every contract as short as possible regardless of the nature of the transaction. In realty, both extremes are foolish. Whereas a paper cut requires only a band-aid, a heart transplant requires an operating room and a good dose of anesthesia. Similarly, whereas hiring a band to perform at a festival may require only a simple agreement, raising $20 million to produce a musical on Broadway is going to require a few contracts. We will neither unnecessarily complicate a transaction nor over-simplify a complex relationship. Instead, we will help you simplify what can be simplified and comprehend what is by its very nature more complex.

3. We will take the time to answer your questions

We reject the traditional notion that artists can't make their own business decisions, can't understand contracts, can't manage their affairs, and should leave such matters to the expertise of others. That's how artists wake up to discover their rights stolen and the careers derailed. We believe that with knowledge comes empowerment and, even more importantly, control. We will never discourage your questions, request that you accept a confusing contractual term as "industry standard", or permit you to avoid difficult concepts just because they are, well, difficult. Rather, we are committed to spending as much time and effort as necessary to ensure that you understand and accept every legal and business decision impacting your career—in fact, we insist upon it. We see our clients as involved partners and not helpless pawns.

4. We will help you identify what you can do on your own

We are looking for clients, not co-dependants. While we are more than happy to do as much or as little as our clients may require, there are a number of tasks which do not require an attorney. In many instances, we are able to point you in the right direction, look over your shoulder, provide guidance and supervision, and nudge you when necessary, but let you do the bulk of the work yourself. For clients with limited resources (and whose aren't) this can save considerable legal fees. At the same time, there are a certain tasks which would be disastrous for you to try on your own, resulting in us having to spend more time "undoing" your work than in doing it right in the first place. We will help you assess what you can do versus what we must do and determine the course of action that is both cost effective and gives you the results and legal protections you need.

5. We will not advise you to sacrifice your relationships for short term goals

We will not help you break or circumvent the law—state, federal or another country's. But we also believe in the universal law of Karma. What goes around comes around. The person you deceive today will never work with you tomorrow. Call us delusional, but that's not the way we do things. That being said, if we can legitimately find a way for a law—statutory or Karmic—not to apply to you in the first place, then we're all for that! Second only to the law of Karma is the law of rationalization.

6. We will always give you the advice you need, rather than the advice you want to hear

As your attorneys, regardless of how many awards you have won or your degree of celebrity, you can always count on us for candor and honesty, even if that means telling you things you may not want to hear—such as: you are being short-sighted, are allowing your emotions to cloud your judgment, are failing to plan properly, are setting unrealistic goals or expectations, are being completely taken advantage of, or are about to embark upon the most foolish business proposition ever conceived.

7. We will not charge you for socializing

Whenever time permits, we like to learn about your projects and share in your enthusiasm. The arts field is all about relationships and we like to take the time to establish a rapport with each of our clients. This also helps us to know better what motivates you, what concerns you, and what's important to you, and, ultimately, allows us to provide more effective advice and counsel. As a result, if you call to discuss a contract, and it leads into a discussion of favorite Saturday morning cartoons of the 80s, we only charge you for the time spend discussing your contract.