About the Team
Patrice N. Perkins
Principal AttorneyThe Informal Bio:
Patrice is our founding partner and American Bar Association-recognized, “Legal Rebel”—a recognition granted to a few attorneys across the globe each year. How’d Patrice end up on this short list? One word: friends. No, not Maxine Shaw, Khadijah James, Regine Hunter and Synclaire James (hello, Living Single fans) but her actual real life friends. A true creative at heart, Patrice has always surrounded herself with creative thinkers and entrepreneurs.
It wasn’t until she became an attorney herself, she realized that so many of her creative friends were without an attorney. When she asked why, they gave a pretty clear response—creatives don’t trust attorneys to understand their needs, allow them to be creative or, as a general rule, just don’t trust attorneys. Realizing the needs of her friends and the creative community at large, in 2010, Patrice founded Creative Genius Law to help traditionally disempowered creatives protect and leverage their creative capital to expand their impact on communities and industries, create generational wealth, and preserve the legacy of their work. In other words, she wanted to focus on the law as a tool for creating new opportunities rather then it being a means to restrict creativity. Outside of work, you can catch Patrice eyeing beautiful architecture and interiors, and enjoying live music and beautiful art.
The Formal Bio:
Patrice is an art, new media, and entertainment attorney whose work is at the intersection of culture, intellectual property, and deal negotiations. She believes that the law should be used to create new opportunities rather than to restrict creativity.
Patrice founded Creative Genius Law over 13 years ago. Creative Genius Law protects creatives from being underpaid, protects their ideas, and helps them build wealth from their creativity.
The firm’s vision is to help independent creatives generate $1M+ in revenue from their intellectual property. Patrice has a consistent track record in providing strategic legal counsel for clients’ long term success, advocating zealously for their intellectual property ownership and control, and negotiating 6- and 7- figure deals.
Patrice’s clients are award winning, visionary artists, photographers, filmmakers, media personalities, content creators, authors, thought leaders, cultural organizations, and multi-disciplinary creatives who create impactful work. She advises on a range of transactional matters, with an emphasis on art transactions, exhibition and commissions; documentary film, talent and speaking appearances, publishing, branded entertainment, brand collaborations, podcast and licensing deals.
After earning her B.S. in Business Economics at Florida A&M University, Patrice obtained a Juris Doctor at DePaul University. She has presented for organizations such as the Chicago Urban League, United States Artists, School of the Art Institute, and EXPO Chicago. She is called upon for expert commentary by media outlets such as Forbes, Fortune magazine, Bloomberg, and WBEZ radio.
Patrice previously served on the Board for the Chicago Artists Coalition, Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce and Kartemquin Films. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Sports & Entertainment Section, Editor of the Sports & Entertainment Section Newsletter and is on the Advisory Board for the Illinois Small Business Development Center in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.
Patrice is one of few attorneys recognized across the globe by the American Bar Association as a “Legal Rebel” – a leading innovator in the industry. In 2017, she launched We’ll Work for Art to help visual artists use their art as currency for legal services. In 2020, she launched BLK: an initiative to end the exploitation of Black creativity.
Ivy Blanton
Client Care ManagerClient service + billing aficionado. Student of fashion, life and overall wellness.
We are a team of creative professionals who firmly believe that you must maintain ownership (or control) of your work, the value of your creativity must be recognized in negotiations and deals, and that the law shouldn’t unnecessarily restrict your creativity but should instead help you create new opportunities.
We also know that your creativity can change communities and industries.