Lecturer Bios
Laura Brett, Esq.
Laura Brett, Assistant Director, joined NAD in April 2012. Prior to joining NAD, Laura specialized in litigation matters in her own private practice and at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Laura litigated a wide variety of cases in state and federal courts, including, securities fraud cases, accounting and actuarial liability matters, trademark related breach of contract claims, as well as cases involving family law, political asylum, and intellectual property. Laura is experienced working in alternative dispute resolution forums including representing clients in mediation and arbitration. Her prior practice involved extensive work with expert witnesses and required evaluating competing expert testimony on a variety matters. In addition to Laura’s work in litigation, she has served on the Board of numerous not-for-profit organizations and is an elected official on her local City Council. Laura graduated with a B.A. from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, with a double major in American Studies and English Writing, as well as from Fordham University School of Law.
Joseph Lewczak, Esq.
Joseph Lewczak is a partner in the Advertising, Marketing & Promotions; Entertainment, Media & Sports and Intellectual Property Practice Groups of Davis & Gilbert, and one of the country’s leading experts in advertising, marketing and promotions laws. He has extensive experience in representing a wide range of advertising and promotions agencies, advertisers and media companies on a broad array of issues relating to advertising, promotions, social media, native advertising and intellectual property. He is the founder and lead guitarist for the firm’s rock band, Generator Honey, two-time winner of the Advertising Week Battle of the Ad Bands.
Mr. Lewczak has been recognized as a leading lawyer for advertising law by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for nine consecutive years (2008-2016). The Legal 500 United States directory has also recognized him for eight consecutive years (2009-2016) in the area of advertising and marketing. In addition, Mr. Lewczak has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in advertising law (2011-2017) and in media law (2017) and was named the 2017 Media Law "Lawyer of the Year" in New York City. He was also selected as a Super Lawyer by New York Metro Super Lawyers (2013-2016).
Mr. Lewczak takes a practical approach to advising his clients, always ensuring that deals are completed as quickly and efficiently as possible while limiting accompanying risk exposure. His extremely broad knowledge base and his expertise are invaluable in helping clients navigate the converging landscape of traditional, digital, social and mobile media. His considerable experience includes advising on all aspects of legal compliance on advertising and promotions issues, and he frequently helps his clients create successful and legally compliant complex games of chance and skill. He is an expert in drafting and negotiating a wide array of agreements including talent agreements, all manner of licensing agreements, and media buying and traditional agency services agreements.
Mr. Lewczak is a frequent public speaker on advertising, marketing, promotions and social media issues, and he has written extensively on these topics.
Mr. Lewczak served as an adjunct professor at New York Law School, where he taught advertising, marketing and promotions law. Prior to joining Davis & Gilbert, he was the director of legal affairs at EMI-Capitol Music Group North America and a corporate attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
Brian G. Murphy, Esq.
Mr. Murphy counsels advertising agencies, advertisers, and entertainment companies as they develop and produce advertising and entertainment properties across all media.
His practice focuses on copyright, trademark, right of publicity/right of privacy, false advertising, unfair competition, and defamation. Mr. Murphy negotiates and structures celebrity talent agreements, agency-client contracts, sponsorship arrangements, product integration deals, and music, film, and other content licenses. He assists clients in the development and execution of complex contests, sweepstakes, and charitable promotions and programs, including those involving user-generated content that are developed for social media, interactive, and mobile platforms. In addition, Mr. Murphy regularly advises clients on the development and production of branded entertainment projects, such as television shows, films, live events, electronic games, webisodes, mobisodes, and websites.
Mr. Murphy is a frequent and popular speaker on advertising, entertainment, and intellectual property issues. In the recent past, he has given presentations at the 2009 American Bar Association Annual Meeting ("Listen to the Sound of Music: Anatomy of a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit"), the New York City Bar Association’s Current Developments in Copyright Law Program ("The Wonderful World of User Generated Content"), the Significant Developments in Intellectual Property Law of Computers and Cyberspace at the University of Dayton School of Law ("Fair Use 2009: Should the Internet, Digital Media and User Generated Content Change Our Analysis?"), the Copyright Society ("Copyright, Lanham Act, Right of Publicity, and Contract Claims Arising from the Use of Music in Commercials"), the New York State Bar Association ("Keeping it Real: The Use of People, Places, and Things in Works of Entertainment"), the American Conference Institute’s (ACI) "Branded Integration Deals" conference ("Working with Talent and Talent Unions"), ACI’s 21st Corporate Counsel Forum on Advertising Law ("Leveraging Rights and Maximizing Bargaining Power When Negotiating the Agency/Client Agreement"), and New York Law School ("The Slinky Dress: Secondary Liability and the Future of Digital Innovation").
Mr. Murphy is an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School where he teaches courses on entertainment and copyright law. Mr. Murphy previously taught at Fordham University Law School and has lectured at the Parsons School of Design. He is a member of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.; the Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; the Promotion Marketing Association; and the American Bar Association Intellectual Property Section’s Special Committee on Promotions and Marketing Law.
Mr. Murphy clerked for the Hon. Leonard B. Sand, United States District Judge in the Southern District of New York. He is admitted to practice in New York.
