Practice Management

Photo Law?

By chucknewton

Andrew Flusche at Legal Andrew got me thinking of "photo law", or the right to take pictures in public.

Most of you know I am an advocate of niche legal practices.  The more tightly focused (there's a pun) the better.  But, I kept asking myself where is there a need for photo law?  What are you going to do, set up a kiosk at Disney World and offer to represent people?  But, the more I think about it, this has to be a practice area.

Niche practices are sometimes practice areas restricted to a very defined law, or they are sometimes marketing emphasis on a number of related practice areas.  The question is where does photo law come in?

First, I remember as a teenager in Texarkana, Texas of all places being asked by my father and other doctors to take some pictures of the town that they could use to recruit new physicians to the area.  What an easy job for a 16 year old.  So, my best friend and I took out photographing all of the points of interest with his Nikon camera.  We did fine until we pulled up to the federal prison in Texarkana.  We took a couple of quick pictures and drove off.  The next thing we knew we were surrounded by cars, pulled out of the car, placed on the ground, the camera confiscated and then we were questioned.  Apparently, federal prisons do not like being photographed.  They eventually let us go because one of the officers knew my father and believed our story.

Second, now with national security issues this Texarkana prison incident is magnified I would suspect.  Go downtown and start taking pictures all around the federal courthouse and see if your activities are not interrupted.

Third, think of the Brittney Spears scandals and the problem with the Paparazzi.  Celebrities claim they are being harassed and Paparazzi are being assaulted.  What is the right of these people to take pictures in public?  What are the rights of celebrities to have some degree of privacy, especially when their children are involved?  What of the pictures they take?  They get big money for some of them.  What about copyright protection?

The point is that where there is friction, there is a legal practice or a niche practice waiting to be exploited.

Are you the next photo lawyer?

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).