Kristin L. Lingren, General Counsel, VSA Partners, Inc. and Steven L. Baron, Partner, Mandell Menkes LLC will return as guest speakers for AIGA Chicago’s Tools of the Trade II: Creative Content in Context—Avoiding Legal Pitfalls seminar taking place on Wednesday, August 19.

Lingren and Baron will build upon issues presented in their first seminar, Tools of the Trade I: Copyrights and Copywrongs, which focused on copyright law basics. This second seminar will focus on how designers can avoid legal liability when purchasing creative content. They will address the risks that arise from how a particular image is used and copy infringements that can accidentally happen within writing. Other topics to be touched on will include content risks when purchasing photographs and illustrations from a third party, including issues that may occur during layout and design. Lingren and Baron will also discuss several ways of increasing your protection throughout the content buying process.

About the presenters

Kristin L. Lingren


Prior to joining VSA in 2008, Kristin was a partner at a Chicago law firm with a practice focused on counseling traditional and new media clients on how to protect and exploit their trademark, copyright, and other intellectual property assets. She is a frequent author and lecturer on intellectual property and related topics, including copyright and multimedia works, trademark and software licensing, and intellectual property protection for small businesses and artists. Some of her most recent presentations include: "What Every Artist Should Know About Copyright," School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008) and "Protecting Creative Properties: Copyright Laws and the Visual Artist," McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum (2007).



Steven L. Baron


Mr. Baron has significant experience in complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution, with particular emphasis on matters involving intellectual property, media law and First Amendment law. He is a frequent author and lecturer on topics involving media and intellectual property and an adjunct professor at Bradley University where he teaches a course on media theory at the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts. He is co-author of a textbook, Intellectual Property Law & Interactive Media - Fee For a Fee (Peter Lang 2009).