Howard Soifer - Thomas M. Cooley Law School

THE THOMAS M. COOLEY LAW SCHOOLremember the man ...remember his passion ...chairsHonorary ChairsSandy SoiferHalie SoiferMarci Soiferjudges & lawyersJudges and LawyersJeffery BrackenHon. Thomas E. Brennan, Sr.Hon. Thomas E. Brennan, Jr.Phillip S. CornellJack C. DavisNorman FellHon. James R. GiddingsJames T. HeosSteven HugheyHon. Peter D. HoukJames J. KentWilliam N. Kritselis (deceased)Loomis, Ewert, Parsley,Davis & Gotting, P.C.Scott MandelD. Daniel McLellanDavid S. MittlemanMayer MorganrothErnie PhillipsHon. Lawrence D. OwenKelly K. ReedMichael RhodesKevin J. RoragenLisa Kirsch SatawaMark SatawaMichael SerlingJerry and Linda SuttonWilliam WagnerBruce J. WeinThe Thomas M. Cooley Law School, our honorary chairs, and committeeof judges and lawyers invite you to attend:The Seventh Annual Howard SoiferMemorial Lecture in Sports andEntertainment LawTuesday, September 11, 2012 - NoonLansing CampusCooley Center Lobby300 S. Capitol AvenueDowntown LansingLecture, Q&A, and jam session following. RSVP by September 7thto Pamela Heos to reserve your box lunch at (517) 371-5140, ext. 2014or e-mail heosp@cooley.edu.GUEST SPEAKERSRobert “Boogie Bob” Baldori, Cooley alumnus, Americanrock, blues and boogie musician, and attorney. Founder of “TheWoolies” rock band in 1964 and a long and successful recordingcareer. Mr. Baldori will speak about his legal and entertainmentcareer representing musicians and recording artists.Sheldon Kay, ”The Rock & Roll Lawyer.” Cooley alumnus,practicing media and entertainment law, civil and business law,family, juvenile and criminal law. He is a popular performer and discjockey in the metro Detroit area and has been an avid collector ofrock memorabilia. Mr. Kay will speak about the evolution of 50’slyrics in music, censoring, and the legalities involved.

Howard Soifer1949-2003Howard Soifer was born in the Bronx and movedto Monsey, New York in 1963. Following graduationfrom the Spring Valley High School Class of 1967, heattended the University of Toledo for two years andreceived his undergraduate degree from Long IslandUniversity in Brooklyn. Soifer was a proud 1977graduate of Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.He was an accomplished lawyer, and a shareholder inthe firm of Loomis, Ewert, Parsley, Davis & Gotting,P.C., until the time of his death on January 29, 2003at the age of 53. He began his legal career as anAssistant Ingham County Prosecutor. After enteringprivate practice, he specialized in litigation, zoning, andemployment law. He frequently lectured at CooleyLaw School and coauthored an article published inthe Thomas M. Cooley Journal of Practical Clinical Lawregarding the 1998-99 NBA lockout. More thananything, Howard loved sports. Throughout his life,he was an avid New York Yankees fan, and during his29 years in East Lansing, Michigan, he became a loyalMichigan State University Spartan. Later in his career,Howard’s passion for basketball, baseball, and footballled him to represent several prominent professionalathletes. He was proud to have negotiated a $2.5million donation to Michigan State University by SteveSmith, NBA Champion, MSU All-Star, client, and closefriend, which was and remains the largest gift froma professional athlete to his alma mater. Howardwas a devoted husband and best friend to his wifeof more than 30 years, Sandy Kirsch Soifer. He wasalso a beloved father to his two daughters, Halie andMarci, ages 33 and 30. Marci currently lives in NewYork, NY, studies in a dual-masters program at NewYork University, and works in the non-profit sector.Halie currently lives in Washington, D.C., works as aSenate Foreign Policy Advisor, and has a 2-year old sonwith her husband, Andrew Kauders. Their son, Henri,would have made Howard a very proud grandfather.All who were part of Howard’s life will remember himfor his great sense of humor and his extreme loyalty,integrity, and strength. His dedication to his familyand his profession and his passion and love for life willnever be forgotten. He considered every moment ofevery day as a new and exciting chapter in the greatstory of life.Guest SpeakersRobert “Boogie Bob” Baldori, Cooley alumnus, American rock,blues and boogie musician, and attorney. Founder of “The Woolies” rockband in 1964 and a long and successful recording career with greatssuch as Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, DelShannon. As an entertainment lawyer he represents many performersincluding Chuck Berry and Hubert Sumerlin. Baldori has been negotiatingcontracts in the entertainment business for over 35 years. He was the firstindependent producer to negotiate distribution deals with both Chess andMotown in the 60’s and continues a full practice specializing in licensing,manufacturing, production and distribution of audio and video product.His main office is in Okemos, Michigan, but most of his work is in Toronto,New York and Chicago, where he spends much of his time. From 1993to 2000, he was a Senior Director at M.S. Distributing in Chicago, oneof the biggest independent audio and video distributors in the world.He has developed and taught college level courses in the business ofmusic at Michigan State University and Lansing Community College,and lectured extensively on the subject at many other colleges, includingColumbia, Chicago. Clients have included Dick Versace, Chuck Berry,Second City, Victor Niederhoffer, John Sinclair, Hubert Sumlin. He oftenrepresents clients in the entertainment and intellectual property fields.For example, he represented Robert Shekter in negotiations with IsabelAllende for the use of Shekter’s illustrations in her book “Aphrodite”.For another example, in 2004 he represented Hubert Sumlin (www.hubertsumlinblues.com) in negotiations with respect to licensing rightsfor the performances of Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, as well as theexecution of an exclusive artist recording agreement with Tone Cool/Artemis Records released in 2005. Mr. Baldori was selected by the editorsof the Clark Boardman Callaghan benchmark text Attorney’s PracticeGuide to Negotiations, 2d Edition, (published April,1996) to participatein the published round table discussion on negotiating commercialtransactions. He has been counsel to the startup of over 100 businessesin the last five years, specializing in formation and capitalization of newcompanies ranging from high tech ventures to real estate and businessdevelopment to entertainment and intellectual property. He is a memberof the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has alsospecialized in forfeiture and search and seizure law. A significant part ofhis practice for the last ten years has been criminal defense, mainly inthe area of drugs and drug forfeiture. He has also been a member of theNACDL prosecutorial misconduct task force.Sheldon Kay, ”The Rock & Roll Lawyer.” Kay established Sheldon Kay& Associates in 1977. He is famously known as the Rock & Roll Lawyer®.His interests include playing guitar, deejaying for his radio show, “TheRock & Roll Lawyer Show”, and legally representing many local andnational artists, notably Aretha Franklin. He is a founding member of theEntertainment Law section of the State Bar of Michigan and has beena regular speaker at Thomas M. Cooley Law School for EntertainmentLaw Society events. In addition to his speaking engagements at CooleyLaw School, he has done numerous free seminars for local musiciansand the organization, The American Society of Composers, Authorsand Publishers (ASCAP). As a musician himself, he understands theneeds of musicians and strives to help all artists familiarize themselveswith the legal aspects of the music industry from contracts, royalties,to trademarks and copyrights. Sheldon is a graduate from Thomas M.Cooley Law School where he excelled in the area of criminal law. Sincegraduating in 1979, Sheldon defended thousands of clients involved in avariety of charges. Sheldon is a member of the State Bar of Michigan andThe Federal Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.