Los Angeles, California. La cuna de la industria del
entretenimiento por excelencia, podríamos decir.
Sin perder de vista la estrecha relación que esa especialización guarda con el Derecho de la Moda, éste se impone y abre paso.
Sin perder de vista la estrecha relación que esa especialización guarda con el Derecho de la Moda, éste se impone y abre paso.
Staci Riordan, una abogada que actualmente reside
allí, vio la necesidad de especializarse, motivada sin lugar a dudas por su
historia familiar, ligada a la industria de la moda.
Socia del estudio Fox Rothschild y a cargo del Departamento de Derecho de la Moda de la
firma, dicta un curso sobre Fashion Law en la Universidad Loyola y nos cuenta
como es trabajar dedicada full time a la industria y sus planes para el futuro!
Hi
Staci. First of all, thank you for this interview. You are a great reference
regarding Fashion law, and is an honor for us to have you on the blog.
You
are a partner at Fox Rothschild in Los Angeles, and Co-chair of the Fashion Law
practice group, tell us about your work and the experiences you had working on
that field. What is fashion law for you?
Fashion Law is an interdisciplinary law practice.
As it focuses on an industry, very much like Entertainment
law, you need to know about many different areas of law, such as
venture capital and banking, employment, international trade, and my favorite,
intellectual property. I love being able to work on brand building and
brand extension strategy and implementation. Being able to take creative
and technical concepts and explain them to a judge or a jury is a great passion
of mine. By combining my years as a fashion industry executive with my
legal experience, I speak the same language as my clients which helps me
quickly understand their issues and guide them to the best possible resolution.
What
do you think about the possibility to apply copyright law to fashion garments?
Do you think it is possible to protect fashion designs? Do you think it is
useful?
I am not in favor of applying existing copyright to
fashion garments. The Fashion industry is thriving and
sales are growing at all segments of the market, especially at the high ended
(i.e. designer, bridge and couture). More laws and regulations would
impair commerce and cause a great deal of uncertainty in the market place.
It would increase costs, which would be passed on to the consumer and will put
many companies out of business. It would also greatly affect a fashion
companies ability to get financing from banks and factors.
I loved the knock-off Economy and think Chris and Kal were
spot on. I am a big fan of their blog, and work in general.
What
is your opinion on the US Fashion Bill?
It is wasting time and resources, which
are better spent elsewhere. It has failed to pass 6 times, and I am hoping its
supporters have enough sense not to try for a seventh. As stated
above, I do not think the US needs this bill and I have been a vocal opponent,
both when I spoke, in writing and on my blog.
Tell
us about your current experience as a Fashion law teacher at Loyola Law School.
I love teaching and am grateful that Loyola is giving me
this opportunity and that its students were passionate and persistent enough to
help convince the administration to add the class. Dean Scott, in
addition to Dean Gold, have been instrumental in establishing the Fashion Law
class, and we have had such positive feedback, we are going to expand the
program into a multi-semester one and are planning to add a summer program for
the summer of 2014.
What
are your plans for the future?
Hopefully coming to Argentina! I want to see
Fashion Law taught in law schools across the world, following in the footsteps
of Entertainment law. I am honored to help Loyola Law School develop its
program and forever indebted to Fox Rothschild for believing in my dreams and
giving me a platform to create and lead a National Fashion Law Practice.
We are actively looking for lateral talent and hope to grow this practice area
in all of our offices. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to continue
providing excellent service to clients, both in the litigation arena and
transactional space. To add value and watch a company grow and succeed is
a great reward.
Thank
you Staci!!