How do I find Legal advisers?

[arrheaparks]

When I am collaborating with a platform and I am provided with the contract, and considering it is my first time; how do I go through it? I mean, I will need a legal adviser who is well versed with the ways of this industry. About the sharing of profits made due to my work, post work payments, copyright and patent issues and other things. But finding someone with familiarity in comic industry is really hard. And if I were to ask the adviser provided by the platform, then what if he tricks me into signing a one sided contract? I can't really trust that person now, can I?

[darthmongoose]

if you don't have access to a lawyer who knows the industry or you can chat to at length, some of the best people to ask are more experienced comic creators who have done professional work, ideally people fluent in the language the contract is in to the level of a native speaker (because legal language is often tricky and can use specific wording to catch you out, especially in English). It's likely somebody who has worked in the industry a while, and signed a bunch of contracts knows what to look out for, and may have hit or avoided pitfalls themselves. Full time, or at very least part-time professionals are ideal, because if they're making enough money to do that, they probably haven't been screwed out of their ability to earn money from their work.

[arrheaparks]

I understand your point. And I know what I am about to say is quite childish but how do I find these people?? As I said I am totally a noob in this industry. On top of that, I am a foreigner w.r.t. the platform. I can't meet involved people easily.

[darthmongoose]

If the platform has a discord community, forum, facebook group or similar, you might be able to find people there. There are also groups for professional comics creators on places like LinkedIn. Or talking to people at events IRL could help?

[arrheaparks]

I think trying linkedln is a great idea. The discord will do.
I can't really meet people in real life though. But thank you so much. Your answers help greatly.

[EncryptedWriting]

My top advice is to do your research.

I've learnt that a lot of "platforms” are very fishy at best and scams at worst. Please do your own person research before spending money on a legal consultant. A quick google search will often do the trick.

[Katzalcoatl]

Before signing any contract you should ALWAYS consult your Lawyer. Laws vary from state to state/country to country. Asking for advice is good but it will never replace a Lawyer.

Remember even if people have experience with a certain contract they are not lawyer's meaning their solution/knowledge is limited. A lawyer is one of the things you should never be cheap about.

You can proceed without a lawyer but have in mind the risks you are taking by not hiring one. Lawyer's can pretty much read between the lines in contracts something most people are not trained to do.

Btw, you should never take legal advice from anyone besides your lawyer. Like I mentioned before laws vary from state to state. Something may be legal in one part of the country but that doesn't mean it is legal in another state.

Taking legal advice from someone who is not well versed in the law is like taking medical advice from someone who did not study medicine. You technically can take such advice but the risks far outweigh the benefits in most cases. A simple problem can become much more complicated just because you decided to skimp out in hiring a medic/lawyer.

[adkahdj]

Before signing any contract you should ALWAYS consult your Lawyer.

Did you consult your lawyer before signing up to this forum ? You agreed to the terms and conditions which is a contract (I get what you mean, I'm being disingenous on purpose)

In most countries people don't have a lawyer. Just read what you sign and learn a bit about how it all works.

[hakei]

You might also need to look into tax laws with your country and the publishing company's country.

DeyaMuniz, the co-creator of Webtoon Original's Blades of Furry's experience:

https://twitter.com/DeyaMuniz/status/1632123792855117826

PSA FOR NON-US CREATORS LOOKING INTO FREELANCE CONTRACTS WITH USA-BASED COMPANIES: YOU ARE ONLY GONNA GET 70% OF WHATEVER THEY ARE OFFERING YOU BECAUSE OF TAX BULLSHIT!!! GOOGLE EVERY LITTLE THING IN THE CONTRACT, TAXES AND EVERYTHING U CAN THINK OF BEFORE SIGNING!!!!

also try to figure out how you can actually receive the money in your country cause at one point my bank in brazil also took another chunk off from my paychecks because of currency conversion!! it was an absolute shitshow and the people at the bank didnt even know what to do

additional legal confusion that may arise from being in different countries:

https://twitter.com/DeyaMuniz/status/1632126057242411008

[...] the people writing it in country A will not know the particularities of your home country & its laws & whatever, DO NOT SIGN CONTRACTS IF YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE LEGALLY BINDING YOURSELF TO!!!

I got DANGEROUSLY close to getting myself into a legal pickle because of ignorance!! the people offering the contract had NO IDEA of the problem in question and NO ONE WOULD HAVE WARNED ME if I didn’t think to double check the legality of some things on google.

[Katzalcoatl]

There are some laws regarding TOS. Some people are having problems due to them, especially with the new crypto world.

One of the most recent problems that affected a lot of people was a case filed against Logan Paul's CryptoZoo game.

Their TOS changed without prior notice not allowing a class action lawsuit. This was legal basically in every state except Texas.
A class action lawsuit was opened against Logan Paul and associates in the state of Texas. Unffortunately, if you are not part of Texas you have to open a separate lawsuit hoping for the best.

While you may have thought you were being funny by being condescending and sarcastic. Just remember there are real people out there losing all their savings just because they didn't know the law.

Depending on the TOS it can get changed without prior notice and without informing the user. But like mentioned before this is not considered legal in all states like Texas. Sadly, it is still considered legal in several other places.

P.S. My cousin was actually a victim of fraud in a ponzy scheme webpage. She would have saved hundreds of dollars by hiring a lawyer to read the ToS but she did not.

P.S.S. Please use common sense of when you do need a lawyer and when you don't (really didn't think this was needed to be mentioned but I was proven wrong). Usually this is when money is involved or when the copyrights of your creations are involved. You don't want to get the short end of the stick.

[arrheaparks]

Omg. You saved me friend. I didn't know of any of this at all. Thank you so much

[vapidink]

Depending on where you live, there might be organizations that provide free legal consultations. For people in the entertainment industry, you might need a lawyer who specializes in contracts. For example, at the law library where I live, they do consultations on certain days, but if you need a particular type of lawyer, you can make an appointment by contacting the library.