Professional Experience
Mr. Stuart's clients include a broad range of recording artists, producers, songwriters, executives, entertainment companies and well-known corporations. His practice includes representing some of the best known performers in the music industry in connection with negotiating all manner of agreements relating to some of the most successful concert tours in recent years; buyers and sellers of extensive well-known music catalogs (both sound recordings and compositions); recording artists and entertainment companies in connection with recording and production agreements, live performance agreements and Internet service agreements; songwriters and publishers in connection with publishing agreements; music producers in connection with all manner of producer agreements; corporations in connection with sponsorship and music licensing agreements for branding and advertising purposes; radio syndication companies in connection with program distribution agreements; and artists and management companies in connection with management agreements.
Mr. Stuart has special expertise in the area of entertainment agreements for the services of minors. He co-authored the current "Coogan Law" and routinely secures Court Approval of contracts involving minors on behalf of his clients.
Prior to his career in law, Mr. Stuart covered the R&B and hip-hop industry as a print and broadcast journalist, writing for a variety of consumer and trade magazines including Billboard and serving as the managing editor of nationally syndicated radio programs and specials including the award-winning urban programs "RadioScope" and "Marvin Gaye: We Miss You." He also created "The Hip Hop Countdown and Report," the first nationally-syndicated radio program devoted exclusively to hip-hop music.
Memberships & Activities
Mr. Stuart is a member of the American Bar Association and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He served as the co-chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Entertainment Section's legislative committee to oversee the development, progress and, ultimately the successful passage of "Coogan Law" legislation in the California state legislature, 1998-2000.
Honors & Awards
American Jurisprudence Bancroft-Whitney Award: Trial Advocacy (1996)
Publications
Mr. Stuart helped draft California Senate Bill 1162 (1999) which amended the "Coogan Law" to provide greater protections for children working in the sports and entertainment industries. He has been a guest lecturer at the Dallas Bar Association and has been featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and KPCC's "AirTalk with Larry Mantle."
Mr. Stuart co-authored "Children as Chattels: The Disturbing Plight of Child Performers," Beverly Hills Bar Association, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Fall 1997).