SoCalMWA is pleased to present "Legal Aspects of Writing True Crime," a Crowdcast event featuring Jonathan Kirsch, Caitlin Rother, and Leslie S. Klinger.

The discussion will cover the world of permissions, copyrights, life story rights, disclaimers, releases, and the like—the tools of the trade of the contemporary writer of true crime. Sample documents will be provided.

Sunday, October 26
11 a.m. (PT)
A Crowdcast Event

Jonathan Kirsch is a publishing and intellectual property attorney based in Los Angeles, an expert witness on publishing industry matters, an Adjunct Professor on the Faculty of New York University’s Professional Publishing Institute, a book review columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and the author of two books on publishing law and five books on the Bible as literature and the history of religion. He has earned an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®, the highest recognition possible in the legal industry for professionalism and ethics.

Caitlin Rother has written or co-authored 16 books, spanning genres that include true crime, thrillers, and memoir. A New York Times-bestselling author and investigative journalist, Rother worked nearly 20 years for daily newspapers. She draws from decades of watchdog reporting on topics from addiction to suicide, mental illness, murder, government, political corruption, and the criminal justice system. A popular speaker, she has appeared on more than 250 TV, radio, and podcast shows as a crime expert. After teaching writing workshops for over 10 years, she now coaches a select number of authors. 

Leslie S. Klinger serves as SoCalMWA's current president. He is considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, H. P. Lovecraft, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, and the history of crime and horror fiction. Klinger’s work has received numerous awards and nominations, including the Edgar® for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2005 for The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories, the Edgar® for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2019 for Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s and the Anthony and Silver Falchion awards for Best Anthology in 2015 for In the Company of Sherlock Holmes (co-edited with Laurie R. King). By day, Klinger practices law in Westwood, specializing in tax, estate planning, and business law.