Courtesy of Minter & Associates

UPDATE (Dec. 14): The memorial service for Kendall A. Minter is being held on Saturday (Dec. 16). Details about the service can be found here. The service will even be livestreamed for those unable to attend here.

Veteran leisure lawyer Kendall A. Minter, whose numerous vary of previous and current shoppers included songwriter-producers Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox and D’Mile, MC Lyte, Kirk Franklin, Lena Horne and the Backstreet Boys, has died. He handed away all of a sudden from medical issues on Dec. 6 in Atlanta. He was 71.

Minter, a longtime social advocate who additionally represented politicians, non secular leaders, church buildings, authors and sports activities figures, was additionally the final counsel and an officer of the Living Legends Foundation. In 2015 Minter was introduced with the 32-year-old group’s Chairman’s Award.

“Kendall and I have been friends and colleagues for more than 30 years,” mentioned Living Legends chairman David C. Linton in an announcement launched by the group. “Kendall is one of the reasons why the Living Legends Foundation has maintained and survived as one of the leading and one of the few Black music organizations. We’re still standing because of his guidance. He helped us sustain the organization through some turbulent times, especially during the transition from the old model of the recording industry to today’s model, providing us with steady and sound legal counsel. We’re forever grateful for his service and leadership, not only to the Living Legends Foundation, but to the other Black organizations that he helped build during the past 40 years as well as his commitment to a long list of Black music and entertainment executives that he mentored and counseled.”

Before his demise, Minter was Of Counsel with the leisure & sports activities follow group at Greenspoon Marder LLP in Stone Mountain, Georgia. At Greenspoon Marder, he represented clientele within the areas of leisure, company, mental property, sports activities and new media issues.

He additionally led and maintained his 43-year legislation follow, now referred to as Minter & Associates, based mostly in Atlanta. Over the course of that interval, his different clientele previous and current additionally included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Miriam Makeba, Peter Tosh, Musiq Soulchild, Goodie Mob, Montell Jordan, Ashanti, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Teddy Riley, Heavy D & The Boyz, radio pioneer Frankie Crocker, boxer Evander Holyfield, the Government of Jamaica and The Central Park Five, now referred to as The Exonerated Five, amongst others.

Minter additionally co-founded and served as the primary government director of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA) and was the previous chairman of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. He served as a board member as nicely for Sound Exchange, Georgia Music Partners and the DeKalb Entertainment Commission.

Born May 24, 1952 and raised within the Flushing part of Queens, NY, Minter earned his B.A. in political science from Cornell University in 1974 and his legislation diploma from Cornell Law School in 1976. His first job out of legislation college was as affiliation basic counsel and company consultant for broadcasting at Fairchild Industries. Over the course of his legislation profession, Minter practiced with companies in Georgia, New York and the District of Columbia. He launched his first solo follow, the Law Firm of Kendall A. Minter, in 1980 and later opened affiliated places of work in Los Angeles and London.

Minter’s different accomplishments embrace writing the e-book Understanding and Negotiating 3600 Ancillary Rights Deals: An Artist’s Guide to Negotiating 3600 Record Deals. He served in addition to an adjunct professor at Georgia State University within the School of Music and the College of Law, the place he taught copyright and music publishing.