In the Spotlight: Danica Mathes
Danica Mathes: Entertaining All of Your Legal Needs
From the time she was 4 years old, Danica Mathes has been actively preparing for her career in the entertainment industry. That's when she picked up the violin for the first time and hasn't been able to put down her love of music and the arts ever since. In addition to being a musician, Danica has also been a television reporter, radio disc jockey and has worked with several NBC affiliates as well as Walt Disney World Entertainment.
Presently, Danica is an Entertainment, Intellectual Property and New Media Attorney with Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP in Dallas, Texas. She represents and counsels clients in various arenas of the entertainment industry, including music, film, television, radio, theatre, visual arts, literary publishing, fashion, toys, beverages, amateur and professional athletics and interactive media. Danica is also adept at handling traditional and emerging intellectual property, advertising, licensing, e-commerce and new media matters for individuals, entrepreneurs, closely held businesses, and Fortune 100 companies.
Danica has worked with the likes of Universal recording artist Nelly and the St. Lunatics, Capitol recording artist Chingy and the Git It Boyz, St. Louis-based jazz label MAXJAZZ, Oscar-nominated Hollywood film producer Buzz Hirsch (Silkwood), and children’s author, Michelle Bain (The Adventures of Thumbs Up Johnnie). Knowing that performers and athletes have many of the same legal needs, Danica has parlayed her unique experience and perspective to assist her clients and their teams to expand their endeavors and capitalize on their talents and celebrity. In addition to negotiating traditional entertainment industry deals, Danica also counsels her clients with respect to endorsement and sponsorship deals, intellectual property licensing, broadcast and merchandising rights, charitable foundations and events, and a variety of ancillary activities such as clothing companies, restaurants and night clubs.
Before joining Bell Nunnally & Martin in 2009, Danica was an attorney with several law firms in St. Louis, including Lathrop & Gage, Husch Blackwell Sanders, and Mathes Law. Aside from being an Adjunct Professor of Entertainment Law at Washington University School of Law, Danica has been selected by her attorney peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in American since 2007, and was also selected as one of the St. Louis Business Journal’s 30 Under 30 and as one of Missouri Lawyers Weekly's Up & Coming Lawyers. She is one of the IgniteDallas charter event organizers, and serves as the panel liaison and moderator for the Dallas International Film Festival. Danica has also served on the Board of Directors for St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts and the St. Louis Young Variety Board. She is a member of Legal OnRamp, the StarPolish.com Attorney Panel, and the American Bar Association Entertainment & Sports Law Forum. She often presents at national and regional conferences and events and is a prolific writer and contributor to various industry publications and websites.
Danica has a Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law, where she was inducted into the prestigious Order of Barristers, was an Editor for the Washington University School of Law Journal of Law & Policy, and won the 2001 Delores K. Hanna Best Brief Award in the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition Finals in Washington, D.C. She has a Bachelor of Arts in communication and music from DePauw University. While at DePauw, Danica played the violin in the Symphony Orchestra that toured in Great Britain and was a member of three choirs that performed in Carnegie Hall.
Read more about Danica Mathes and her practice.