It Had to Be You

Crisis Management

The first thing Nina did when she woke up the next morning was email Yujin who promptly responded with a time to chat. Nina thought a phone call would suffice but Yujin pressed upon her the importance of meeting in-person.

Three hours later, Nina found herself in the office of Weston, Andrews and McCullough. It sounded like a law firm which is why Nina was surprised when she read the list of companies that fell under the WAM umbrella. There were publishing houses, tech companies, marketing agencies and a high number of names alluding to the arts including opera houses, West End productions and dance companies. Nina was impressed. She had assumed the company would be stuffy, stuck up even. But judging from the wall, Weston, Andrews and McCullough was dedicating to promoting creativity in any industry they found interesting.

Nina was looking around for a place to check in when she heard high heels clicking on the tile floor.

"Nina, hey." A woman she presumed was Yujin extended a hand. She was well-dressed in sleek trousers, a crisp white button down and a patterned vest on top. Nina couldn't help but admire the stack of intricate bangles Yujin had on both wrists which jangled as she moved.

"Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time!" Nina felt nervous. She had no reason to be but she wanted to make a good impression.

"Come on back. Love that you're a writer by the way. I always wanted to write but instead I chose a career where I read a lot." Yujin laughed easily as Nina followed her down a hallway lined with playbills. She hadn't quite figured out what this company entailed but she was enjoying the atmosphere.

"Right in here." Yujin turned left and Nina followed her into a well-appointed office. The space was bright and colorful. It lacked all of the airs of a typical corporate space and instead looked like an extension of Yujin's personality. Yujin gestured to a couch and Nina took a seat.

"So, Walker has filled me in high level about what's been going on and I wanted to thank you for coming in person to speak with me about this. It's a bit of a delicate matter." Nina took a deep breath trying to regulate her nervous system. Why did she feel so worried?

"The long and short of it is that James Buchanan has a history of using intimidation to get what he wants. Particularly when it comes to female employees, authors or consultants he has begun engaging in emotional manipulation bordering on sexual harassment."

Nina sat back in her chair. She had not been expecting that. "Is he predatory? Should I be concerned about being alone with him?" The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Yujin shifted in her seat and looked uneasy.

"This is what I needed to clarify. James is unique in the sense that he accuses women of coming onto him or trying to exploit him using their sexuality in order to get his way. As a lawyer I like to stick to the facts so the fact of the matter is that we have more than five known cases of him setting women up the same way in order to gain access to their work. He typically makes an accusation, provides flimsy evidence at best and settles out of court with an NDA."

"If he makes women sign an NDA how do you know of so many of them?"

"Fair question. There was one women who hired me to find a way out of this predicament. We were able to find a loophole in her NDA and then in several others. Since then, he's changed the terms and has made it much more stringent. But this loophole allowed us to gain a full understanding of the lengths he will go to in order to gain ownership over a body of work. In some cases it's individual pieces but in most, he attempts to control the entirety of someone's creative collection."

Nina swallowed. She was nauseous and felt like she may pass out. "Oh my god." She uttered under her breath again and again.

"I know this is a lot to take in but you're in good hands. The key here is to make sure that you don't spend any time one on one with him. He is a master at taking words out of context and trying to use them to gain control. He is often successful because very few artists have the financial backing to secure adequate legal counsel and many are intimidated by the potential of racking up legal fees which James reminds them of consistently."