BALDORI & ASSOCIATES
LAWYERS
517-351-6555 e-mail: boog@boog.com
Robert Baldori has been negotiating contracts in the entertainment business for over 35 years. He was the first independent producer to negotiate distribution deals with both Chess and Motown in the 60's and continues a full practice specializing in licensing, manufacturing, production and distribution of audio and video product. His main office is in Okemos, Michigan, but most of his work is in Toronto, New York and Chicago, where he spends much of his time. From 1993 to 2000, he was a Senior Director at M.S. Distributing in Chicago, one of the biggest independent audio and video distributors in the world. He has developed and taught college level courses in the business of music at Michigan State University and Lansing Community College, and lectured extensively on the subject at many other colleges, including Columbia, Chicago. Clients have included Dick Versace, Chuck Berry, Second City, Victor Niederhoffer, John Sinclair, Hubert Sumlin. He often represents clients in the entertainment and intellectual property fields. For example, he represented Robert Shekter in negotiations with Isabel Allende for the use of Shekter's illustrations in her book "Aphrodite". For another example, in 2004 he represented Hubert Sumlin (www.hubertsumlinblues.com) in negotiations with respect to licensing rights for the performances of Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, as well as the execution of an exclusive artist recording agreement with Tone Cool / Artemis Records released in 2005.
Mr. Baldori was selected by the editors of the Clark Boardman Callaghan benchmark text Attorney's Practice Guide to Negotiations, 2d Edition, (published April,1996) to participate in the published round table discussion on Negotiating Commercial Transactions. He has been counsel to the startup of over 100 businesses in the last five years, specializing in formation and capitalization of new companies ranging from high tech ventures to real estate and business development to entertainment and intellectual property.
He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has also specialized in forfeiture and search and seizure law. A significant part of his practice for the last ten years has been criminal defense, mainly in the area of drugs and drug forfeiture. He has also been a member of the NACDL prosecutorial misconduct task force.
e-mail: boog@boog.com