Overview
The way we run our design businesses is changing rapidly. We're procuring products in different ways. We're incorporating AI into our workflows. We're sharing more information digitally. We're working with complex supplier and consultant networks. And the expectations and responsibilities surrounding the designer/client relationship continue to evolve.
So, has your legal protection kept up?
Join Andrew Mitchell, Founder of The Design Coach, and Jennifer Tutty, Founder and Principal of Studio Legal, for a practical legal briefing created specifically for interior designers.
This isn't a workshop about memorising legislation or deciphering pages of legal jargon. It's about understanding where the risks sit in the way you actually run your business, and what you can do to better protect yourself.
We'll Explore:
Procurement & Consumer Law
What changes when you purchase and resell products, act as an agent for your client, arrange direct
purchasing or use a hybrid procurement model?
We'll explore where responsibility can sit when products are delayed, damaged, defective or simply don't meet expectations.
AI &
The Law
Can you upload client information into AI? Who owns an AI-generated image? Can you use other people's work as an AI reference? What happens when AI gets something wrong?
We'll explore the emerging issues around privacy, confidentiality, copyright, accuracy and responsibility.
The Designer / Client Relationship
From scope creep and endless revisions to approvals, variations, delays, consultants, payments and termination, Jennifer will unpack some of the areas most likely to create conflict within a design project and explain why clear contractual boundaries matter.
The Risks Designers Are Facing Now
Jennifer will share some of the legal red flags every design studio should be thinking about, along with practical steps you can take to reduce unnecessary exposure.
Plus: Live Q&A
Bring your questions. We'll finish with an open discussion with Jennifer about the issues designers are encountering in their businesses right now.
This workshop is designed as general education and information and does not constitute individual legal advice.
Protecting your business shouldn't be about becoming more fearful of what might go wrong. It's about creating clearer boundaries, making better-informed decisions and building a business that is better equipped for the way designers work today.
About Studio Legal
Studio Legal is a boutique Australian law firm designed especially for creative people and businesses, supporting clients across Australia.
Working at the intersection of creativity and commerce, Studio Legal understands the commercial pressures that come with running a creative business, pursuing new opportunities and taking risks.
Their clients range from start-ups through to established international businesses across industries including architecture, interior design, advertising, marketing, the arts, entertainment, hospitality, fashion, technology and more.
Studio Legal deliberately takes a different approach to traditional lawyering. Their team understands that creative businesses don’t always relate to conventional legal services, so they focus on providing advice that is relatable, personalised and tailored to the unique needs of each client and their business.
Rather than offering off-the-shelf solutions or quick answers, they take the time to understand their clients, develop close working relationships and provide high-quality legal solutions aligned with their commercial goals.
Their services span commercial law, intellectual property and other legal services for creative businesses, including business structures, contracts, legal compliance and the protection of valuable intellectual property.
At its heart, Studio Legal aims to give creative people and businesses greater confidence and peace of mind, knowing their legal interests are protected.
Jennifer Tutty
Jennifer (Jen) Tutty is the Founder and Managing Principal of Studio Legal, a leading Australian boutique law firm established in 2011, to support the unique legal needs of creative people and businesses.
Jen is a highly regarded legal advisor to Australia's creative industries, with a particular focus on servicing clients in the marketing, design, music, entertainment, architecture, fashion and arts sectors, including interior design.
With over 22 years in practice, Jen has spent her career advising the people who make things beautiful, designers, architects, artists, musicians, brands and the studios behind them. She works across copyright, trademarks, media, tech and commercial law, but thinks like a business owner first, having built and run her own firm from the ground up. Her clients range from solo creatives just starting out to household names, all of whom come to her for the same thing, advice that is practical, sharp and genuinely on their side.
As both a business owner and a creative herself, Jen brings a designer's eye for detail to the legal, commercial and personal challenges faced by her clients. She is known for her ability to deliver practical, strategic and empathetic legal solutions that protect, empower and elevate creative businesses and the people behind them.
When she's not working, you'll likely find Jen walking on the beach, playing piano or painting, developing her latest legal AI enabled app idea, or catching up with friends and family over a G&T or a nice glass of wine. If you're really lucky, you might even spot her DJing at an event or party.
