Elena M. Paul , Esq. - Executive Director
Davidson College, B.A. 1985
Harvard Law School, J.D. 1988
212.319.2787 ext. 17

epaul@vlany.org

Elena M. Paul is the Executive Director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA). Established in 1969, VLA, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation, is the pioneer in arts-related legal aid and educational programming. VLA believes that individual artists and arts organizations deserve access to dedicated legal representation and advocacy to ensure that their voices are heard and that their interests are protected. To achieve these goals, VLA provides pro bono legal representation to low-income artists and nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and many other legal and business services to the entire arts community. In addition to being VLA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Paul represents clients at VLA on a pro bono basis, acting as general counsel and a legal advisor to arts and cultural organizations and individual artists, specializing in nonprofit governance and corporate matters, strategic planning and risk-management, transactional work and intellectual property, and the management of legal matters placed with outside counsel. She also serves as development consultant for various cultural, entertainment and arts projects and productions with a focus on dance, film and fashion. In her tenure, VLA has enjoyed record growth, program improvement and expansion, and productivity. Ms. Paul creates many of its original programsand develops the curriculum for many educational programs as well as teaching and making presentations at national conferences and educational institutions, including South by Southwest Conference & Festivals (SXSW), The School of Visual Arts, Fashion Institute of Technology, The College Art Association, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New Art Dealers Alliance’s Miami Art Fair, Columbia Law School, and Harvard Law School. Ms. Paul is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School in the Fashion Law Institute, Brooklyn Law School and the New York Film Academy.

Prior to joining VLA, Ms. Paul was the Executive Director of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA). Ms. Paul also represented clients at WALA, specializing in corporate and contract matters. She restructured WALA's client services into a clinical format and expanded the law student internship program to include client representation, legal research and writing opportunities. Ms. Paul led the creation of a National Coalition of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts which now meets annually. Before joining WALA in August 1998, Ms. Paul acted as University Counsel in the Office of the President at the University of Maryland, College Park. In that position, Ms. Paul was responsible for the legal aspects of all of the University’s major transactions, contracts, construction, and real estate projects, including handling the largest procurement to date in the State of Maryland ($750 million). Prior to this position, Ms. Paul served as an attorney at two major national law firms in DC, Patton Boggs and Bryan Cave, where she practiced corporate and real estate law.

Ms. Paul grew up in Gainesville, Florida and graduated from the Gainesville Public High School. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Davidson College, phi beta kappa, and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Ms. Paul is a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School; serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the French Culinary Institute that raises funds for scholarships; act as a mentor for The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in its Arts in Crisis Program; is a Legal Mentor at SXSW 2010; and is a member of the Art Collection Advisory Committee for Davidson College.

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Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq. - Associate Director
University of Texas- El Paso, B.A. 1995
California Institute of the Arts, M.F.A. 1997
Cornell Law School, J.D. 2006
212.319.2787 ext. 13

ssarmiento@vlany.org

Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq., is currently the Associate Director for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in New York City, where he advises and represents visual and performing artists and arts organizations. He received his BA in Art from the University of Texas-El Paso, and an MFA in Art from The California Institute of the Arts. In 1997 he was a Van Lier Fellow at the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program in Studio Art, and received his J.D. from Cornell Law School. He is an Adjunct Professor of art law at Fordham Law School, and is also the Program Director and faculty of VLA's Art & Law Residency Program.

His legal experience includes advising artists, galleries, and arts organizations on matters involving copyright, trademarks, moral rights, free speech, and artist-gallery disputes. He has recently worked on an important appeal under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 on behalf of the Swiss installation artist Christoph Büchel in the artist’s highly-publicized dispute with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. He has also co-written amicus briefs for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court regarding another high-profile moral rights case, Chapman Kelley vs. Chicago Park District, in support of artist Chapman Kelley.

He has taught critical theory, art law, and studio art at a number of universities and art schools, including NYU, Harvard University, the University of Southern California, University of California-Irvine, Occidental College, CalArts, Hofstra University, and Brooklyn Law School. He has presented talks and participated in panels and symposiums at a number of institutions, including The Drawing Center, The New York State Bar Association, NYU School of Law, McGill Faculty of Law, Dia:Beacon, Fordham Law School, The International Center of Photography, Pratt Institute, SUNY-New Paltz, The Bronx Museum, The Yale School of Management, The School of Visual Arts, The Vera List Center for Arts and Politics at The New School, Creative Capital, Columbia University School of the Arts, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Parsons The New School for Design, the El Paso Museum of Art, The El Paso Bar Association and Federal Bar, Columbia Law School, Cornell Law School, Harvard University, and the Centre Sociologie de l’Innovation, Ecole des Mines de Paris. He was a mentor with the Kennedy Center’s Arts in Crisis program in 2009-2010.

His art projects have been shown in international exhibitions, including Mexico, Germany, and Spain, and nationally in Dallas, New York City, and Los Angeles. He has published essays and projects in Five Continents and One City Exhibition (catalogue essay, Mexico), Capital Art: On the Culture of Punishment (catalogue essay, US), Cabinet Magazine (US), Law Text Culture (Australia), and Unbound: Harvard Journal of the Legal Left.

Sarmiento currently serves as a New York State Council on the Arts panelist for state and local partnerships. He is also a member of the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and serves on the advisory board for two nonprofits, The Nietzsche Circle and The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance.

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Benjamin J. Brandow, Esq. - Director of Legal Services
Northwestern University, B.S. 2004
New York Law School, J.D. 2007
212.319.2787 ext. 14

bbrandow@vlany.org

As VLA's Director of Legal Services, Mr. Brandow oversees the placement of client matters with pro bono attorneys and he regularly presents at law firms and corporations about pro bono opportunities with VLA. Mr. Brandow counsels VLA clients daily on a wide range of legal issues, specializing in contracts and licensing, intellectual property, and dispute resolution.  Mr. Brandow meets with visual artists, performers, filmmakers, and arts organizations, but as a musician himself, he particularly enjoys working with VLA's music clients.  Mr. Brandow was President of the Media, Entertainment, and Sports Law Association at New York Law School, where he focused his studies in entertainment and art law. He received his Bachelor of Science cum laude from Northwestern University with a double major in Psychology and Organizational Communication and a minor in Music.

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Luis Nieto Dickens - Marketing and Design Director
University of Texas at El Paso, B.F.A. 2010
212.319.2787 ext. 12

lndickens@vlany.org

Luis Nieto Dickens is a designer of Mexican nationality who lives and works in New York. Luis received his B.F.A. from The University of Texas at El Paso with a major in Graphic Design and a minor in Printmaking. During school and after graduating, Luis worked for and with numerous art institutions, designers and artists in the West Texas area before joining Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, where he oversees marketing and assists the education program. Luis likes espresso shots and is currently on the look out for the perfect one in New York. He also misses the amazing landscape views and sunsets in Marfa, TX and riding his bicycle through town.

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Diana Siozios - Development Associate
The George Washington University, B.A. 2011
212.319.2787 ext. 16

dsiozios@vlany.org

Diana recently moved to New York from Washington, DC to join VLA as their Development Associate.  She graduated cum laude from The George Washington University with a B.A. in International Affairs with concentrations in Contemporary Cultures and Societies and Latin America and Minors in Spanish and Dance.  While at GW she was a member and captain of the nationally competitive First Ladies Dance Team.  Diana has been passionate about dance for most of her life and plans to attend law school in fall 2012 and to focus her studies in art and entertainment law in order to help protect artists against infringement of their works.  

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Eric S. Tam, Esq. - Staff Attorney
Yale Law School, J.D. 2007
Yale University, M.Phil. (Political Science) 2003
McMaster University, B.Arts Sc. (Honours Arts & Science and Philosophy) 2000
212.319.2787 ext. 18

etam@vlany.org

Eric Tam is currently a 2011-2012 Legal Fellow at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Eric graduated summa cum laude from McMaster University with a combined honours degree from the Arts and Science Programme and the Department of Philosophy, and earned a Master’s degree studying political theory at Yale University prior to obtaining his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2007. Eric’s activities at Yale included: serving as a Pocket Part (Online) Editor for the Yale Law Journal; working in the civil liberties, human rights, and national security clinic; performing and writing for the Law Revue; undertaking several teaching assistantships; and contributing research to a book on deliberative democracy. Following law school, Eric held a clerkship at the Court of Appeal for Ontario from 2007-2008, and worked as an associate in the Litigation Department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP from 2008-2011. Eric counts theatre, game design, and rollerblading among his interests.

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Joni Todd - Administration Director
Drake University, B.A. 1997
Columbia University, M.A. 2005
212.319.2787 ext. 10

jtodd@vlany.org

Joni received an M.A. in Modern Art and Critical Theory from Columbia University. Prior to joining VLA, she worked at several museums in both New York and Chicago and still volunteers regularly at a major New York art museum. When not volunteering, she likes to frequent other museum exhibitions, watch films, and read. She is an ardent fan of Prince’s music and is only 3 hard-to-find albums away from completing her Prince vinyl collection!

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Blaise Niosi - Spring Intern
Skidmore College, B.A.2006
The Sotheby's Institute of Art, M.A. 2007

bniosi@vlany.org

Blaise Niosi is the Founder of Blaise + Co. Contemporary Art, an artist management agency which enfranchises emerging artists to launch their careers outside of the traditional gallery system, through independent curatorial initiatives and business development services. Prior to founding the firm, Blaise worked in Contemporary Art Client Development at Sotheby's auction house. A native New Yorker, Blaise graduated from The Chapin School to earn a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Art History from Skidmore College. She then earned a Master of Arts with Merit in Art Business from The Sotheby's Institute of Art, where her final dissertation explored the feasibility of collateralizing works of new media and video art under institutionalized lending structures. Blaise is an avid supporter of the arts and enjoys affiliations to such organizations as the Museum of Modern Art, White Box, Guild Hall, and the Professional Organization of Women in the Arts. In her free time Blaise works closely with the non-profit after-school program Unleashed, and is looking forward to beginning law school in Fall 2012. 

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