One-on-One with Attorney Shannon Ligon

To all that know me, know that my ultimate passion is to become an Entertainment Lawyer. I have had the pleasure of building a professional relationship with Attorney Shannon Ligon of Ligon LawGroup. No one can tell me that Twitter IS NOT AN AWESOME NETWORKING TOOL, because this is how I came to know Attorney Ligon. Since establishing a relationship via Twitter, I was instrumental in bringing Attorney Ligon to Full Sail University to speak with our Black Student Union. She was awesome and very insightful. Attorney Ligon received her Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Florida State University while spending time abroad studying International Business at the Universidad de Valencia in Valencia, Spain. She is not a stranger to the Entertainment field. She also has her certification in Television & Radio Broadcasting from CSB School of Broadcasting in 2004. Attorney Ligon has worked in the entertainment and sports industry for the past 8 years. She has been involved in management (artist & sports), A & R, as well as has numerous trusted networking contacts over the past 9+ years.

In speaking with Attorney Ligon, I became to look up to her more and more. She expressed to me the many liabilities that she had encountered while being in the entertainment business from acquiring endorsements from artists as well as athletes, copyright infringement, to ensuring that you, as the attorney, are upholding the law and your duties to your client.

While working with Richard DeLuca (Integrated Sports Management Company) her eyes were opened to endorsements deals. Having to negotiate for her clients was based off their needs as well as the needs of the companies being endorsed. She stated that Copyright infringement, can be a very “slippery slope”. Take for example, a beat was mixed and used, however the beat is not making any money, you may send a cease & desist letter rather than suing the individual. One of the ways you can ensure there is no “bad blood” or “black balling” is to consider using that individuals beats in the future. Just because someone may possibly infringe on your intellectual property doesn’t mean that you will never want to work with that person again, you just want to be either recognized for his or her work and/or compensated. Always be careful who you decide to sue, you never want to rub the “right person” the wrong way. She also stated that there are plenty times that major artists may find a beat, want to use it and can not find who originally created the beat. The producer is then not found until they possibly hear their beats on an album.

As an attorney you have a duty to uphold the law at all times, this can pose a serious liability if you are possibly working with high risk clients and/or some one who’s has limited knowledge of the business but is adamant that they are correct in different matters. It is not that you want to go against your client at all, but you are unable to go against the law you promised to uphold. When getting into any type of business make sure that you research all of the liabilities and ways to limit those. In closing, Attorney Shannon Ligon gave the Full Sail Black Student some great advice when she came to speak and I now leave it with you. “Always be excellent with whatever you do and never be afraid to lose, but never give up.”


Thank you for taking the time for my interview Shannon.

http://ligonlawgroup.com/