A well-known and respected entertainment industry litigator with 35-years of success, Sandra (Sandy) Crawshaw-Sparks represents the most iconic names in music on recording, publishing, licensing and management contracts, copyright and trademark infringement claims, unfair competition claims, and the rights of privacy and publicity. While she fiercely fights high-profile battles for her entertainment clients and wins some of the most visible cases in the media today, Sandy also negotiates pre-litigation and pre-trial resolutions of highly sensitive and confidential personal and entertainment-related disputes, protecting her clients and their reputations from unwarranted media scrutiny and creative distraction. Sandy is also recognized as an expert in the law respecting court approval of personal services contracts with minors.
Notably, Sandy is the National Legal Counsel for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (the not-for-profit organization responsible for the GRAMMY Awards) and she has long served on the Board of Directors of the GRAMMY Museum’s Entertainment Law Initiative, which promotes discussion and debate about the most compelling legal issues facing the music industry.
Most recently, Sandy was named a New York Power Lawyer by The Hollywood Reporter, a 2023 Top Music Lawyer by Billboard, and a 2023 Visionary by LA Times’ Business of Law. Sandy was also shortlisted by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law for Copyright Lawyer of the Year and Entertainment Lawyer of the Year. In 2022, Sandy was named Copyright Lawyer of the Year. She has been recognized as a Top 250 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation since 2017.
Representative Matters:
- Counsel for Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Publishing in pursuing copyright infringement claims against rapper Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt p/k/a Trefuego, for Trefuego’s unauthorized sampling of a Sony sound recording and musical composition in his own track.
- Successful representation of The Recording Academy in a dispute regarding registration and use of a “Christian Grammy Awards” word and design mark in connection with their plans to host an event that, despite its name, was neither affiliated with nor endorsed by the Recording Academy, which owns the GRAMMY® brand.
- Representation of BMG Rights Management, the administrator for the estate of rapper Juice WRLD, in resolving two copyright infringement claims involving his music.
Updated Sep 2023
