June 11, 2015 – André Castaybert attended the program sponsored by the Center for Art Law and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) focusing on the basics and pitfalls of forming nonprofit organizations and fundraising for the arts, with discussion topics including nonprofit governance, compliance, and funding for the arts. Guest speakers included Peter Cobb, Program Officer for the New York Foundation for the Arts; Celia Muller, Associate Counsel for WNET; and Morgan Lindsey Tachco, Grants and Services Director for the Brooklyn Arts Council.

As part of the event, the Center for Art Law prepared a useful list of nonprofit entities in the New York metro area that may be resources for artists to receive advice about creating a nonprofit and for fundraising. Center for Art Law, located in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY, serves artists and students, academics and legal practitioners, collectors and dealers, government officials and others in the field, and explores the many facets of this exciting and continually developing field of legal practice.

Established in 1969, VLA is the pioneer in arts-related aid and educational programs about the legal and business issues that affect artists and arts organizations. VLA’s Legal Services Department, its largest program, offers counseling and assistance to the arts community. VLA also offers pro bono legal representation to low-income artists and nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. André Castaybert is a member of the VLA.

To learn more about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s Art Law practice, click here.

To learn more about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s pro bono practice, click here.

June 8, 2015 – André Castaybert, principal attorney at CASTAYBERT PLLC, recently completed the MediateArt™ Training Program with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) of New York.

The VLA’s MediateArt™ Training Program is an intensive arts and entertainment mediation training program for attorneys, artists, arts administrators and other professionals with an interest or background in the arts or intellectual property. Completing the MediateArt™ Training Program is a prerequisite to serving as a MediateArt™ volunteer.

MediateArt™ is VLA’s alternative dispute resolution, contract negotiation, and negotiation counseling department. A vital program of VLA’s since 1998, MediateArt™ offers members of the arts community an alternative, non-litigious way in which to resolve their disputes.

October 14, 2014 – André Castaybert will be speaking on December 9, 2014, with other members of the Trademark Committee of the New York City Bar Association on a panel introducing the basics of intellectual property law at the Brooklyn Business and Career Library.  The presentation is being hosted by the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP).

NELP was founded by the City Bar Justice Center in 2003 as a community development initiative in recognition of the vital role that entrepreneurs and their businesses play in New York City’s communities.  The project provides pro bono legal assistance to low- to moderate-income micro-entrepreneurs in NYC’s five boroughs who are either starting up or expanding a small business and assists with issues such as corporate formation, drafting contracts, negotiating commercial leases, and protecting intellectual property through copyright, trademark, and patent. Its services include small business legal clinics, legal presentations, and direct pro bono representation. NELP’s purpose is to promote economic self-sufficiency among low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs, by providing them with vital legal assistance they might otherwise go without.

The program is being co-sponsored by the Small Business Development Center at New York City Technical College, one of 24 campus-based regional centers of the New York State Small Business Development Center.  It provides expert management and technical assistance to start-up and existing businesses located in Brooklyn.  The SBDC focuses on projects that advance job development, investment, and economic growth opportunities for the local community and emphasizes services to women, veterans, people with special needs, and minority clients. Its vision is to create economic sustainability for all New Yorkers – one business at a time.

The program is also being co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Business & Career Library, which is part of the Brooklyn Public Library and provides extensive resources and various programs that focus on topics of interest to small businesses. The library helps entrepreneurs to conduct business research and provides access to trade journals, newspapers, market demographics, company directories, and industry information. It also provides additional counseling and training for a variety of business-related topics.

To learn more about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s Intellectual Property practice, click here.

To learn more about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s Pro Bono practice, click here. 

 

September 3, 2014 – André Castaybert has become a member of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.  Established in 1969, VLA is the pioneer in arts-related aid and educational programs about the legal and business issues that affect artist and arts organizations.  VLA’s Legal Services Department, its largest program, offers counseling and assistance to the arts community.  VLA also offers pro bono legal representation to low-income artists and nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.

To learn more about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s Art Law practice, click here.

To learn more about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s pro bono practice, click here.

August 20, 2014 – André Castaybert, principal attorney at CASTAYBERT PLLC, has joined the American Constitution Society for Law and Public Policy, a network of legal professionals and policy makers who seek to educate the public and stimulate a healthy debate about issues that affect American society, such as access to justice, voting rights, workplace and environmental issues and constitutional interpretation and change.  As the ACS describes itself, “the strength of [its] ideas and the scope of its nationwide network enable it to make a difference in legal and public policy debates and ensure that law is a force to improve the lives of all people.”

To learn more about the ACS, visit their website.

For information about CASTAYBERT PLLC’s pro bono activities, visit our pro bono practice area.

 

The lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC have significant  experience handling requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) and the New York State Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”). The firm assists its clients in counseling individuals and entities seeking access to government documents and formulating proper requests for information from government agencies.  The firm’s lawyers have played leading roles in litigation seeking compliance with FOIA and FOIL requests including a FOIL related suit that was adjudicated in the highest court in New York State, the New York Court of Appeals.  The lawyers at CASTAYBERT PLLC also have experience in “reverse” FOIA suits, seeking to bar disclosure by government entities of its clients’ company trade secrets and other confidential information in response to FOIA requests. In appropriate cases, the firm offers pro bono representation of clients, including independent authors and journalists, seeking disclosure by government entities pursuant to FOIA or FOIL.

Intellectual property is the touchstone for all major aspects of law related to Art Law.  CASTAYBERT PLLC combines the experience and expertise in copyright, trademark, business transactions, commercial and intellectual property transactions to provide sophisticated transactional and litigation counsel to art world clients such as galleries, dealers, collectors, artists, and appraisers.

The firm counsels clients in all aspects of Art Law, including the creation, purchase, retention, consignment, sale and lending of art.  The firm advises clients regarding authentication, title and provenance, commissions, real estate, auction consignment and insurance.  The firm also advises artists and institutions regarding matters of fair use and regarding the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”), which protects a work against “distortion, mutilation, or other modification.”

In appropriate cases, the firm will also represent individual artists or institutions on a pro bono basis and will handle matters referred by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.  The firm also offers its services to prepare Amicus Briefs and letters in support or opposition in matters involving free speech, resale rights, moral rights and the Visual Artists Rights Act.

CASTAYBERT PLLC counsels and represents both employers and employees in employment law matters from inception of the relationship through termination and in enforcing post-departure employee obligations.

REPRESENTATION OF EMPLOYERS

CASTAYBERT PLLC understands the legal and business implications of entering and exiting employment  agreements.  The firm is experienced in negotiating agreements for clients in a variety of employment contexts, and will represent them when a party to a contract breaches, threatens to breach, or is accused of breaching an agreement.  Employers face a wide range of employment, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and benefits claims.  The firm counsels corporate clients in mitigating these risks and advises them concerning the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act, breach of contract, defamation, discrimination, non-compete and trade secrets, wage and hour violations, whistle-blower claims, and wrongful discharge and retaliation claims.  In addition to employment agreements, the firm will assist corporate clients in preparing employee policy and procedure handbooks, social media policies and procedures, invention assignment, independent contractor, work-for-hire, and confidentiality agreements.

And when preventive measures are insufficient, the litigators at CASTAYBERT PLLC are ready to defend employers in EEOC or New York Labor Department investigations and against the panoply of claims that can arise in the workplace whether in administrative proceedings or in court.

REPRESENTATION OF EMPLOYEES

CASTAYBERT PLLC represents employees whose employment is ending, whether the employee has chosen to leave their position or has been terminated by the employer.  The firm negotiates separation agreements to obtain the best possible terms; if potential legal claims are raised, the firm will work with the client to identify and pursue the client’s goals through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or litigation in court if appropriate.

The firm is well-versed in a variety of workplace laws that protect employees against being discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or otherwise discriminated against.   The firm will, on occasion, represent employees who have suffered workplace discrimination or harassment.  CASTAYBERT PLLC also advocates for employees who have been illegally retaliated against for reporting misconduct in the workplace, including discrimination and financial wrongdoing.

To learn more about how CASTAYBERT PLLC can assist you with employment law matters, please explore the related practice area descriptions or contact us.

Profil d'André G. Castaybert Profil d'André G. Castaybert
André G. Castaybert is the founder and principal attorney at CASTAYBERT PLLC. His experience as a commercial trial court and appellate lawyer spans two and a half decades. He started his career as a litigator in New York City, at the international law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP where he worked for twenty years in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department on a wide range of commercial disputes in the Federal courts across the United States, in the New York State courts, and in domestic and international arbitration.  André has also been Counsel to several highly regarded boutique business litigation firms in New York City and in Westchester County, providing cost-effective business litigation solutions to high net worth individuals, mid-sized companies and Fortune 500 companies before founding CASTAYBERT PLLC.

André is experienced in all phases of civil litigation and has litigated many matters from inception, through discovery, through trial and appeal. He has litigated commercial matters involving a host of different areas of the law and involving a wide variety of industries and has experience counseling clients in corporate and transactional matters:

  • Financial, Corporate and Banking: André has represented high net worth individuals, investors, and financial institutions in matters involving major banks, hedge funds, and broker-dealers, in connection with diverse claims including margin and prime broker agreements, claims of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, bank deposits, money laundering, and indenture compliance.
  • Insurance Recovery: André has represented policyholders in matters of officer and director liability, commercial property damages, employee practices liability, financial guaranty and credit risk insurance.
  • Employment: André has represented both executives and companies in disputes involving the enforcement of non-compete, confidentiality, and non-solicitation agreements, and has advised both individuals and corporations on employment and severance agreements.
  • Intellectual Property: André has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, fashion, toy, music, and sports industries, in a wide variety of intellectual property matters, including licensing distribution and royalty agreements, copyright, trademark, and trade secret protection and enforcement, and in connection with unfair competition claims.
  • Real Estate: André has represented clients in commercial landlord-tenant matters, in connection with condominium approvals, in matters involving the recovery of brokerage fees, and in matters involving signage.
  • Transactional Matters: In addition to his practice in commercial litigation and arbitration, André has experience counseling clients in corporate and transactional matters and preparing and negotiating a variety of corporate and commercial contracts, including corporate formation documents, LLC operating agreements, agency, partnership and joint venture agreements, employment and severance agreements, non-disclosure agreements, invention assignment agreements, licensing, distribution and royalty agreements, and sales contracts.
  • International Matters:  André has particular experience representing foreign individuals and companies in matters in the United States and in international arbitration.  He is fluent in French and has represented many French clients, as well as clients and witnesses from the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Monaco, Israel and Japan. André has also obtained discovery and represented foreign witnesses in Paris, Brussels, Geneva, and Montreal.

To learn more about André’s experience and representative matters, please explore the associated descriptions of the firm’s Practice Areas.

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