Robert V. Gaulin

THE FIRM’S FOCUS

Gaulin Group PLLC concentrates on entertainment and media law, executive compensation and severance/termination arrangements, as well as a myriad of related business transactions.

Established in 1993, Gaulin Group PLLC represents a variety of clients from most states and several foreign nations.  Included among them is a long list of top executives in motion picture, television and media companies, and prominent individual producers, directors, authors, television and film screenwriters, comedy writers, talk-show hosts, news reporters, magazine publishers and editors-in-chief, as well as performing and recording talent.  A special field of expertise for clients is the handling of employment, compensation and separation arrangements, and discrimination claims.  

The firm represents public and privately held corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, creative enterprises and entrepreneurs in all types of transactions, mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment and media field, involving television, feature and documentary films, animation, video, music, licensing, and literary and magazine publishing.  Gaulin Group PLLC also provides expertise in production finance, negotiation and documentation of transactions of a myriad of arrangements, among them being the licensing of entertainment and non-entertainment properties, acquisition of creative properties through production and distribution of completed television and feature films, and the making of best-selling books into film and films into live theatrical productions.  

Advice and support in critical situations are based on strategic, analytical, pragmatic and creative thinking to achieve the best possible results.  In order to provide cost effective services, all negotiations are conducted and deals structured in a politely tenacious and creative manner.  The firm takes pride and satisfaction protecting clients’ interests and helping to enhance their challenging lives and careers.  Each closing of a deal brings a new beginning for these industry professionals, and, historically, a continuing career-long professional relationship.

2015

THE FIRM’S FOUNDER

Admitted to practice law in New York in 1977 (as well as the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the United States Court of Claims), Robert V. Gaulin has  for over twenty-five years held an “AV Preeminent” peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the organization’s highest recognition based on adherence to professional standards of conduct and ethics, reliability, diligence and other criteria relevant to the discharge of professional responsibilities, and performance in the areas of legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability, and legal experience.  

Since 1980, Mr. Gaulin has concentrated in legal, business and employment matters in fields such as entertainment, media (including new media), fashion, advertising, and finance.  Live theatrical stage productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, tours, and the like, were the mainstay during Mr. Gaulin’s early years in practice.  When representing producers, playwrights, directors and actors in hundreds of productions (and even co-presenting a live show), a particular highlight was his handling of the first multi-production theatrical offering ever allowed under New York State law, which was also then (1991) the largest financial syndication in Broadway history (involving Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Phantom of the Opera” and “Aspects of Love”).  While working on behalf of modeling and advertising agencies Mr. Gaulin had the occasion to structure, negotiate and document the most lucrative international deal (at the time) involving Isabella Rossellini. 

Among Mr. Gaulin’s mentors and partners from his large law firm years were the legendary trial lawyer and defender of black-listed entertainment professionals during the McCarthy era, Louis Nizer, the heralded New York Attorney-General Louis Lefkowitz, and long-standing Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bowie Kuhn (the film industry’s Arthur Krim was also a name partner).   Mr. Gaulin also came to represent literary and music libraries of all types in their license and sale.

In 1998, Mr. Gaulin conceived and produced a new adaptation of “Rear Window”  with Christopher Reeve, the only film in which this “Superman” ever starred after his life-altering injury (raising several million dollars for The Christopher Reeve Foundation in the process).  Since that time  Mr. Gaulin has served as production counsel on motion picture and TV ventures, and occasionally as producer and advisor of other film and television projects. 

In an attempt to “pay it forward,” since 1994 Mr. Gaulin has been a hands-on mentor/supervisor to nearly 100 law student interns interested in pursuing careers in the entertainment and media sector.  In 2004 Mr. Gaulin accepted an invitation to join the faculty at Brooklyn Law School (as an Adjunct Professor of Law), and taught a seminar course in Entertainment and Media Law for eight years. 

2015