The Importance of Legal Protection Interview with Legal Intern Amy Green

Last month, we interviewed Audrey Sop to learn more about her role at Bertz Associates. Today, we are hearing from our second law intern - Amy Green. Amy recently completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham and spoke to us about some of the experiences, challenges, and discoveries she has made whilst interning at Bertz Associates. 

What have you been working on? 

As a legal intern, no two days have been the same and my role has varied quite a lot! So far my work has related to the E2E project specifically, however, my work aims to make the company's legal processes easier as a whole by developing policies and predicting potential issues. 

In line with this, I have written a Privacy Policy and I am currently working with Isaac on a photography policy. We are looking into developing more policies that the company can use going forward. I have also worked on consent forms for photography within the E2E project within schools and I have begun working on copyright concerns for the E2E project.

What challenges or surprises have arisen from working for a small arts organisation?

I don’t think I was aware how much reach a small arts organisation has. For example, we have been asked to help draft contracts for a number of different people including artists, musicians, freelancers, volunteers, interns, employees, and more. I don’t think I realised how many people the company reaches within one project and therefore how much legal preparation needs to be done!

Furthermore, I have been quite surprised about how many legal areas the company is interacting with every day. When I took up the role, I think I anticipated some issues with contract law, copyright and potentially data protection. However, the areas I have looked at so far have been considerably wider. This keeps me on my toes and has therefore made my internship a great and unique experience in multiple areas of law that I wouldn’t get in a traditional vacation scheme setting*

*Vacation schemes= Set work experience periods in a law firm.

In terms of challenges, this week I attended a digital rights webinar which was aimed at creatives and arts organisations to ensure they are copyright compliant. One of the speakers who was a lawyer noted that there are many organisations who assume they are immune from copyright claims and will just use certain materials accidentally.

I think this speaks to a wider issue within the law in that it seems daunting and mystifying, especially to small arts organisations. But it does not have to be this way!

What advice would you give to another small arts organisation?

I think just to be aware that everything you do has legal implications. Don’t just assume that because you may be an educational organisation or even a non-profit, that certain rules don’t apply. They may be different rules based on the type of your organisation but there will still be legal barriers to certain activities.

You still need data protection policies, photography policies, safeguarding policies etc regardless of what type of organisation you are. This is for the company’s benefit too. So as a company, I would definitely invest in legal advice at the very outset of a company’s activities to ensure you are legally protected. It may seem very bureaucratic and like a chore or another added expense, but it will definitely help you in the long run. The last thing you want as a creative is to be battling legal claims, especially as a small arts organisation with community values.

Also, having a legal team or legal interns even for a short amount of time is useful as a lot of their work has longevity and can be used going forward. For example, the policies we create do not really need to be amended unless the law changes. Also, we are creating contract templates to be used by other projects and parties going forward. This ensures withstanding legal protection and advice.