If you’re in the design, digital, or marketing business, you’re also in the intellectual property, privacy and data collection, anti-spam, contract law, truth in advertising, fair use, labor law, and yes-the-list-just-keeps-on-going business. Since you’re probably not a lawyer, nor do you play one on TV, it might be prudent to get a little grounding in how to steer clear of the legal problems that can haunt our industry — and for far less than $500 an hour.

Brian Rowe is a professor and techie working at Northwest Justice Project, managing the National Technology Assistance Project and teaching at the University of Washington and Seattle University. He is also a former Chairman of the Board for Washington Lawyers for the Arts. Brian teaches as an adjunct in the areas of Privacy law, Ethics, Copyright and Information Policy. He holds a B.S. in Informatics and a B.A. in Political Science, both from the University of Washington and a J.D. frpm Seattle University.