| Bruce
Bortz: Literary Lawyer
When he founded Bancroft Press in 1992, lawyer Bruce Bortz
believed he would be spending most of his time editing and
publishing books. Yet, during the past dozen years, without
looking for clients, he's found himself handling the full
gamut of legal matters that involve book publishing. Hearing
through word of mouth that he's a lawyer who understands the
nitty-gritty details of book publishing, clients have searched
him out.
A lawyer since 1978, he helped found “7 on Your Side,”
the consumer investigation unit of WJLA-TV in Washington,
DC. In the early 1980s, he served as Assistant Bar Counsel
to the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, handling
client complaints about Maryland lawyers. During the mid-1980s,
he founded a program where he taught repeat failures how to
pass the Maryland Bar Exam, and 80 percent succeeded. In all
these activities, Bortz has always pulled for the underdog.
The following represent some of the legal activities he's
engaged in since 1992, when he began devoting most of his
energies to book publishing:
Negotiated and enforced contracts between authors and:
- Literary agents
- Dramatic rights agents
- U.S. book publishers
- U.S. reprint publishers
- Foreign publishers
- On-line publishers
- Audio publishers
- Book clubs
- Movie-makers (studios, producers, etc.)
- Anthology publishers
- Publishers of periodicals (involving excerpts)
- TV production companies
On behalf of authors, he's also:
- Resolved or litigated copyright infringement claims; and
- Resolved problems with the U.S. Copyright Office
- Litigated money disputes with publicists and other contractors
- Provided advice on the necessity of obtaining clearances
for material quoted or used in their books
- Served as an expert witness in arbitrations against publishers
Occasionally, fellow publishers have sought his services.
On publishers' behalf, he's:
- Resolved disputes with printers
- Resolved disputes with distributors and wholesalers
- Resolved disputes with advertisers
- Negotiated and drafted joint venture agreements
- Negotiated settlements involving co-op advertising agreements
Because he so identifies with the underdog, Bortz deliberately
underprices the cost of his services, usually charging $100
an hour, or, when he strongly believes in a client's case,
on a contingency basis where he retains no more than 25 percent
of his client's eventual gains. |
