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February 27th, 2023
GRWM: Everything You Need to Know About the Growing World of Online Influencers and the Opportunities it Presents for Lawyers
Advertising and Interactive Entertainment Counsel Dorian Slater Thomas is interviewed by Chambers Associate in the article, “GRWM: Everything you need to know about the growing world of online influencers and the opportunities it presents for lawyers.” The article speaks with prominent legal leaders on the growing market of social media influencers and the opportunities it presents for lawyers. Dorian is quoted saying, “There are so many entertainment spaces, and advertising has crept into all of those.”
Dorian adds that there are no set metrics as to how big an influencer’s following needs to be to warrant legal representation. He says, “I’ve represented emerging influencers who may have less than 10,000 followers on a platform, and negotiated brand deals with the biggest influencers whose last names start with K.” It’s more about the level of influence these personalities have over consumers, than the numbers themselves. Dorian notes that representing an influencer is almost a piece of a traditional talents job due to the high revenue from marketing dollars.
He also notes that influencer representation sits at the convergence of many areas of law. Dorian says, “I’ve seen deals where Twitch has engaged well-known streamers and essentially asked for a full-time job – 160 hours a month of streaming, so eight hours a day, five days a week. If that’s the case, it’s useful to have an attorney who is experienced in reviewing and negotiating those deals on things like industry standards, hours and compensation, how often you have to break for advertising, or how many ads you have to serve per hour.”
He adds that his entrance into the industry made sense coming from his experience in both advertising and interactive entertainment law. He says, “I work in two groups at Frankfurt Kurnit: the advertising group, which works on all the deals necessary to create a commercial (whether broadcast, social media, or experiential), and the interactive entertainment space, which was traditionally video game development and that genre of entertainment. I was sitting at the right nexus where I had experience in these interactive forms of entertainment and experience in advertising. Influencers straddle those two spaces within the law.”
Dorian recommends keeping up with the industry trades. He says, “Try to end up in the same physical spaces, too. Go to TwitchCon, Comic Con, VidCon. Go build that network of people in your life and they’ll turn to you.”
He adds that living in states where influencers live is helpful. “You’re not going to be stuck in LA or New York for your entire life, but if this is something you want to do then be prepared to spend at least a couple years of your life on either of the coasts.”
In conclusion Dorian says, “If you look back, it was unusual to make a bunch of money off social media, but now you’d be surprised if you tap into your network and realize how many people are making some kind of money, if not their entire income, off of social media, gaming, or some kind of interactive entertainment. As the industry expands, we will see further sophistication in how influencers are represented. He says, “We’re already seeing influencers evolve the same way that traditional talent and TV and movies have evolved, to the extent that we’re now seeing agencies like talent representation for influencers only.”
Read the full article here.
Other Quoted
An Influencer Gained Followers as She Documented Her Weight Loss. Then She Revealed She Was on a GLP-1
Hannah E. Taylor is quoted in The Wall Street Journal about social media influencer Janelle Rohner, who shared her weight loss progression with diet and lifestyle tips, selling a paid course on nutrition. When Ms. Rohner posted she was taking a medication used for weight reduction and diabetes, her critics questioned her the legality of her advertising and e-commerce. The article stated, “Hannah Taylor, deputy managing partner and a partner in the advertising, marketing and public relations group at law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, said proving an influencer acted fraudulently is a high bar because many jurisdictions require showing that the defendant had an intent to deceive. False advertising is typically easier to prove. Taylor said if someone had purchased the course believing that it led to Rohner’s weight loss, when in fact the medicine was the cause, that could be a material omission that could subject the influencer to false advertising liability.” View article.
May 30 2025
Mubi’s $24M Bet Just Made Agents Bullish Again. Here’s Why
Hayden Goldblatt is quoted in The Ankler article on Mubi’s purchase of Lynne Ramsay's film, “Die, My Love,” and what it meant for the Cannes market. He’s interviewed on “the real lessons from Cannes.” View article. (Behind paywall)
May 27 2025
A Federal Judge Ordered OpenAI to Stop Deleting Data
Daniel M. Goldberg is quoted in an Adweek article, which reported that a federal judge has ordered OpenAI to stop deleting output data from ChatGPT. This was part of The New York Times lawsuit, alleging OpenAI engaged in copyright infringement “by using ‘millions’ of articles published by the newspaper to train its AI model, which now directly competes with the Times’ content as a result.” The judge’s order seeks to preserve evidence in the Times’ case. Mr. Goldberg addressed mulitple implications of the order, which requires OpenAI to hold more data than they normally would. "That could make OpenAI more susceptible to security breaches, or shake the trust of consumers who expected their chatbot records to be deleted. There are also potential implications regarding energy use, storage and environmental impact that the judge may not have considered when making the order, Goldberg said." He also noted the order would trigger people's concerns about what it means for working with large tecnology providers.
May 21 2025
