Program Faculty
To see a full bio of any speaker, please click on their name.
Elena M. Paul, Esq.
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Speaking in all locations
Elena M. Paul is the Executive Director of VLA. In addition to being the Chief Operating Officer and head of development, Ms. Paul advises and represents artists and arts organizations at VLA, specializing in corporate and contractual matters. She also creates many of its original programs, including the VLA Clinic; the Statewide Service Initiative; this Legal and Business Bootcamp; the Ask the Lawyer Program; and the MetLife Foundation Clinics and Classes for the Arts. Prior to VLA, Ms. Paul was the Executive Director of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts. Before WALA, Ms. Paul acted as University Counsel in the Office of the President at the University of Maryland, College Park. Ms. Paul previously served as an attorney at two major national law firms, Patton Boggs and Bryan Cave.
Ms. Paul serves on several boards of nonprofit arts organizations and advises many others, including other VLA-type organizations. She also serves as development consultant for various cultural and arts projects in addition to television, film and theatrical productions.
Ms Paul lectures nationally on a variety of arts and entertainment topics, including contracts for arts professionals, intellectual property, fundraising and institutional development, and creating nonprofit, tax-exempt corporations. Ms. Paul is an Adjunct Professor at the Brooklyn Law School for a program she created, the VLA Transaction Law Clinic and Seminar.
Ms. Paul received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Davidson College, phi beta kappa, and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. In 2000, Ms. Paul was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School. She is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia.
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Alexei Ormani Auld, Esq.
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Speaking in all locations
Alexei Ormani Auld is the Director of Legal Services for VLA, where he specializes in intellectual property matters oriented toward film, music, visual arts, and related industries. Mr. Auld supervises and maintains VLA's legal services program that serves more than 8,500 individual artists and arts organizations on over 10,000 legal matters. In addition, Mr. Auld counsels artists and companies on numerous arts related legal and business issues. Mr. Auld lectures nationally on a variety of topics including intellectual property, arts and entertainment contracts and licensing agreements.
Mr. Auld is actively involved in the arts and in the film industry. His screenplays have been selected for programs conducted by the Sundance Institute and the Independent Feature Project. He has also participated in programming for the Sundance Film Festival and has screened films for inclusion in the Gen Art Film Festival. In addition, he has served as a script and production consultant for various film and theatrical productions.
Mr. Auld attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Howard University (B.A. 1994, summa cum laude) where he majored in history, and Columbia Law School (J.D. 1998). After graduating from Columbia Law, Mr. Auld worked for Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam and Roberts LLP and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP. He is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia.
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Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento , Esq.
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Speaking in all locations
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq., is the Director of Education and Staff Attorney for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Mr. Sarmiento is an artist, writer, and lawyer interested in the relationship between art and law. Mr. Sarmiento received his BA in Art from the University of Texas-El Paso in 1995, and an MFA 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 the following year. He received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2006.
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Paul Rapp is an intellectual property lawyer who lives and works in Housatonic, MA. Rapp teaches art & entertainment and copyright law at Albany Law School, writes about music, art, and the law for The Artful Mind, Metroland, and Berkshire Living magazines and appears regularly on WAMC's VoxPop program as a copyright expert. Rapp lectures widely on intellectual property, including recent talks at the School for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the National Writers’ Union. He is currently on the boards of The Storefront Artist Project in Pittsfield and WBCR-LP in Great Barrington.
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Peter Rienecker, Esq.
Vice President and Senior Counsel, Original Programming
Home Box Office, Inc.
Speaking in New York, NY
Frederick N. Samuels, Esq.
Cahn & Samuels, LLP
Speaking in most locations
Frederick N. Samuels has been involved in the field of intellectual property since 1986. Mr. Samuels began his career as a Patent Examiner in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has been in private practice since 1990. Mr. Samuels has extensive experience in all aspects of intellectual property, including litigation, administrative proceedings, patent and trademark procurement, technology transfer and licensing. Mr. Samuels focuses his broad experience to provide clients with strategic, business-orientated counseling in the acquisition, management and exploitation of their intellectual property. In this regard, Mr. Samuels has devised and implemented intellectual business strategies for clients of all sizes and at all stages of development.
Mr. Samuels has prosecuted numerous patents in a vast array of technologies and has successfully handled patent appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. Mr. Samuels also regularly prosecutes trademarks and copyrights for his clients both foreign and domestic. In addition to ex parte matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Mr. Samuels handles opposition and cancellation proceedings for his clients.
Mr. Samuels received his Juris Doctor from George Washington University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. Mr. Samuels is a former Board Member of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts and is a current Board member of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Samuels' hobbies include sports and photography.
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