Meet Lee Morin of MORIN Entertainment Law in Old Fourth Ward/Inman Park

Thanks for sharing your story with us Lee. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Marrying my right and left brain in an environment where I am in control over the quality and balance of my work activities and personal hobbies has been one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. As a youth, I expressed interest in the creative and performing arts. At the age of 12, I knew I wanted to serve the arts and entertainment. This is because it was when I was immersed in these worlds that I connected most authentically to my feelings, which I experience on an above-average intensity. I am a highly sensitive person, so for me, having a place to express myself creatively was a necessity for management. I transitioned this creativity into college where I volunteered in college radio and produced three specialty shows for WRAS Atlanta, Album 88. In this community, I realized my calling to serve the creative and performing arts and discovered a new, natural skill for business.

While working odd jobs related to the music industry post-graduation, I realized another calling into law and pursued a legal education and relevant work experience. I was fortunate to have served five years in a corporate headquarters of an international corporation and three years in a blue chip law firm prior to law school, which gave me perspective on what type of environment, skills, and experience clients value. After law school, one of my mentors hired me as an independent contractor, I took a solo workshop CLE, and a producer from my radio days needed help with a matter. These three things converged and I started my firm in March 2013. In May 2014, I ceased all independent contract work and went “all-in” to my business. I have since increased my gross annual revenue by 347% in four years (from 2015-2018).

I have a second company, which I started in August 2016 and am re-launching in 2019 to manage my artistic pursuits, which are voice talent, creative writing, photography, and production (I produce and host a podcast, produce, write for and host a YouTube channel). I already license my photography in three platforms: Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and SmugMug (soon to include 500px). My podcast is a mashup of recorded musical works featuring a sound started in east London and called the Wavelength Series. My YouTube Channel aims to demystify legal concepts for creative entrepreneurs doing business in the United States. So far, I have discussed topics related to synch licensing and copyright law for national and international artists.

I started the third company this year, a non-profit, and will be producing one publication and a second podcast which will dive into more personal aspects of my story that have enabled me to be the best version of me. A lot of people see my success and remark how inspired they are by my story. But they only know a part. I have been gathering the momentum to publish a self-help book detailing my personal obstacles, tools I used to overcome them, the results and ongoing maintenance, so that others may appreciate that there is nothing unique about what I have done – indeed, anyone has the ability to achieve everything they ever envisioned so long as they are willing to be honest with themselves and others, make strategic plans for change, and pursue those plans vigilantly every day, knowing that we are all human and prone to err. The bottom line is that we continue to make progress.

Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing worthy is ever easy, and nothing easy is ever worthy. This is very true in business. My road as a business owner has been full of challenges, required above-average discipline, and persistence, but continues to pay off. On the one hand, continued success requires making calculated decisions, while on the other, it involves a lot of faith and conviction. I am deeply grateful for every opportunity I have and have found myself in an ideal situation: I see the value I add to clients’ lives and feel like I am making a difference in the larger community of lawyers and entertainment professionals.

Challenges for a business owner boil down to knowledge, experience, and management. I am always learning, taking CLEs, reading, and surfing the Web to increase my knowledge base and be aware of developments in law and entertainment. Experience is gained by actively seeking opportunities that challenge me. Lawyers can accept jobs for matters they may not specialize in so long as they take steps to gain competence. By having a network of mentors senior to me who are willing to guide and support me is an immeasurable value. I am willing to do the heavy lifting and not afraid of hard work or to make sacrifices in order to grow my business. However, time and resources management is key. Having a budget and sticking to it, being disciplined over the use of time, and carving out time for a personal life are key. Just like in weightlifting, resting is key to being able to load more weight, so I find time to rest and enforce strict time boundaries, and actively pursue several personal hobbies.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I operate an entertainment law practice. Entertainment is a business. So, picture if you will an umbra, and that is entertainment law, which is the convergence of corporate law and entertainment business. The penumbras are comprised of labor and employment, insurance, finance, tax, M&A, securities, secured transactions, intellectual property, and contracts. I paper deals, whether those are focused on financing, structuring, operating, or exiting an entertainment project or business.

Allow me to step back for a moment though. When I started my firm, I knew that my great advantage would be my network. I have been actively networking since I was 15 years old going out to music events in Atlanta. My mom likes to say I put 20 years of “partying” to good use when I flipped my role from consumer to active participant in the entertainment industries. So, I started with what and whom I knew as a former radio disc jockey, in music. I was friends in high school with the employees of a game company, so I also added game development into the mix thanks to friends, who inspired me to learn and grow. I then connected with artists and animators in the game industry, who also worked in motion pictures, and began blogging for one of them. She inspired me to grow my knowledge base and experience in motion pictures, which in 2014 was sporadic. In 2015, that changed and I realized I could specialize in production and content development for moving media and combine my skills and experience in music and games.

What distinguishes me from other lawyers/ law firms in the entertainment business is my 27-year network of contacts, my knowledge and experience in music, games, and film (and related disciplines like theatre, literature, and art) and my ability to apply them to each project. Moreover, I am leveraging these assets to create more opportunities for clients and colleagues, by opening conversations with entrepreneurs, who wish to invest in entertainment projects.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
In the next 5-10 years, I believe the Netflix bubble might burst. I understand they are raising 2 billion dollars in debt securities to finance more content. With competition from other new media like Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and others creating and delivering content on bespoke platforms, viewers have more choices than before in what and how they consume entertainment. It is stunning how kids operate a “smartphone” and access this content, faster and with more precise skill than adults. I hope there will not be content ennui, rather more clearly drawn communities of content existing in the virtual world.

My fear is that we delve so deeply into the online world that we forget how to live our real lives. I grew up in the generation that experienced the “tipping point,” of technology, in 1992, before Mosaic and the WWW. Can you imagine a life without the World Wide Web? No, you cannot. No Internet? No way! So, yeah, I believe we will become ever more content specialized, decentralized, and less monolithic, but hopefully not at the cost of real connection with people in our communities. I would like to see my neighbors at more than only elections.

Pricing:

• Standard Consultation (a “diagnostic” of a career, project, or situation) – $250 flat fee
• Nonprofit Consultation (non-profit rate with proof of nonprofit status) – $200 flat fee

Contact Info:

• Website: morinentlaw.com
• Phone: 404-800-5568
• Email: lee@morinentlaw.com