Those who can’t, become lawyers. I always envisioned myself as a creator. At a young age I took lessons in piano and cello. I was a journalist for my high school and college newspapers. I wrote a software program in 1980s-era BASIC to manage my fantasy baseball team. I once even sang in a school choir (the memory haunts me to this day).

I never made it in the creative arts. But my career in copyright litigation has put me shoulder-to-shoulder with creators in an even better way. I have had the privilege of representing musicians, songwriters, photographers, graphic artists, software developers, academics, and other creators in protecting their intellectual property. Along the way, I’ve represented some of the world’s biggest corporations, defended a host of small businesses against a wide array of legal challenges, and volunteered legal services to the wrongly accused, the victims of abuse, undocumented immigrants, and others who could not afford legal representation.

I started my legal career, happily enough, with a decade at one of the nation’s premier litigation firms. I helped to formulate the music industry’s initial strategy for combating copyright infringement online, pursuing music pirates at home and abroad to help clear the way for licensed online music services to get off the ground. I also managed the implementation of a groundbreaking settlement with a website operator that resulted in the first-ever copyright “filter” in a commercial peer-to-peer music network, led successful litigation on behalf of a small family-run designer and manufacturer against a major Las Vegas casino for the unauthorized use of a carpet design, and litigated rate-making proceedings on behalf of major record labels before the Copyright Royalty Board.

I’ve also developed a substantial copyright appellate litigation practice over my career. I was a member of the briefing team for MGM v. Grokster, the 2005 Supreme Court case that established the liability of peer-to-peer file-sharing companies for infringing content. More recently, I wrote an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Warhol v. Goldsmith, the landmark case that clarified the scope of the "transformative use" doctrine in fair-use analysis. I also represented a client in a copyright appeal in the Second Circuit involving important fair use and implied licensing issues and wrote an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a photographer in a high-profile copyright appeal against a prominent Los Angeles tattoo artist.

In addition to the Warhol and Grokster copyright cases, I was a member of the Supreme Court briefing team in Rumsfeld v. Padilla, one of the first legal challenges to post-9/11 military detention policies to reach the Court. I also contributed amicus briefs in Padilla v. Kentucky, a case establishing the right of non-citizens to effective representation at the plea-bargain stage; Dickerson v. United States, a case reaffirming the Miranda rule; Christopher v. Harbury, a case involving alleged human rights abuses overseas; and United States v. Arvizu, a case involving search and seizure rights.