Creatives, performers, and founders come to me for advice on their deals, rights, and reputation — across film, television, music, publishing, and other creative content. From London to LA, I bring a bit of clarity and calm to complex legal matters, particularly those involving artificial intelligence.
Kelsey Farish
Media
Kelsey Farish
Media
Lawyer
Solicitor — Media, Entertainment & AI
Creatives, performers, and founders come to me for advice on their deals, rights, and reputation — across film, television, music, publishing, and online platforms. From London to LA, I bring a bit of clarity and calm to complex legal matters, particularly those involving AI.
I’m internationally regarded as a leading lawyer for AI matters in the media and entertainment sectors. I understand the technology and the companies behind it — and I use that expertise to support creative professionals. My favourite instructions often involve digital replicas and voice cloning, although I also advise on things like copyright, labelling and transparency, confidentiality, and platform T&Cs.
I’m internationally regarded as a leading lawyer for AI matters in the media and entertainment sectors. I understand the technology and the companies behind it — and I use that expertise to support creative professionals. My favourite instructions often involve digital replicas and voice cloning, although I also advise on things like copyright, labelling and transparency, confidentiality, and platform T&Cs.
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Visibility can create value — but only when it’s properly controlled. Talent and publicity work is about managing how someone is seen, credited, and paid for the use of their name, image, voice, or likeness. My expertise includes image (personality / persona) rights, talent contracts, endorsements, trade marks, advertising rules, and reputation-sensitive decision-making.
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The internet is full of systems designed by tech entrepreneurs and regulated by often outdated laws. That means issues regarding visibility, monetisation, risk, and responsibility aren’t always obvious. My advice focuses on how content really circulates online — and how to stay compliant, protected, and credible while doing so.
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Copyright law sits at the centre of how intellectual property and creative assets are owned, shared, licensed, and protected. My role is to make sure those rights are translated into contracts that reflect reality, without overcomplicating deals or relationships. I also advise on trade marks (registered and unregistered), moral , and neighbouring rights.
Contracts are more than just paperwork. Each one tells a different story about risk, control, power, and trust - and what happens if something (or someone) goes off script. I focus on day-to-day pressure points without hiding behind expensive-sounding legalese.
Even when a project, production or partnership seems perfect on paper, it’s worth slowing down to consider the commercial, reputational, and legal implications. I help clients understand potential problems early, so we can build in the structure and strategy needed to keep the story going.
Business Affairs
Sometimes the questions clients ask are less about a specific deal or project in front of them, and more about the business behind it. I regularly help stakeholders make judgement calls on internal policies, regulatory compliance, PR and IP, or whatever else is keeping them up at night.
As an independent solicitor, I don’t need to follow a pre-approved script — I just try to translate legal jargon into something a little more human. That’s why journalists often come to me for commentary on AI, IP, and other aspects of media law. Recent highlights include interviews for BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, LBC, ITV News, and Bloomberg.
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I often speak at industry conferences, film festivals and universities about how AI and copyright laws shape how we tell stories, and how we see ourselves. No matter the audience, I try to make the law feel more relevant and accessible,
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Writing has always been how I make sense of things, especially where the letter of the law presses against real life and things get interesting. My writing is published in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks, and I’ve contributed to several government and industry policy papers and academic research projects.
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I co-host AI & the Creative Professional, a weekly podcast dedicated to exploring how artificial intelligence is impacting the creative and audiovisual sector. Headlines at the top of the show often lead us to nuanced conversations about things like capitalism’s tension with regulation, history and hallucinations, literary theory and psychology… because AI concerns all of that and more!
Speaking & Writing
So when deepfakes first came online, I worried about what it might mean for performers and creatives. In 2019 — three years before ChatGPT and the Hollywood strikes put AI on the front pages — I published one of the first peer-reviewed papers in the world to explore copyright and publicity laws in the context of genAI.
Today, I’m internationally regarded as one of the leading lawyers for AI matters in media and entertainment. My favourite projects and negotiations often involve digital replicas and voice cloning, but you can find me working wherever creativity, storytelling, identity, and technology press against each other.
I moved to London from the West Coast of the U.S. for university, and law seemed like a sensible career choice. But more than anything, I’m just a girl who loves a good story — whether it’s an arthouse film, HETV period drama, memoir, or true crime podcast.
I began advising on AI in 2019
to help protect actors from
nonconsensual deepfakes.
When deepfakes first came online, I worried about what it might mean for performers and creatives in the screen sector. In 2019 — three years before ChatGPT and the Hollywood strikes put AI on the front pages — I published one of the first peer-reviewed papers in the world to explore copyright and publicity laws in the context of genAI.
Today, I’m internationally regarded as one of the leading lawyers for AI matters in media and entertainment. My favourite projects and negotiations often involve digital replicas and voice cloning, but you can find me working wherever creativity, storytelling, identity, and technology press up against each other.
kelsey media lawyer
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