Derek Crownover And Team Join Dickinson Wright

Derek Crownover

Attorneys Derek Crownover, Austen Adams and Cam Caldwell have joined Dickinson Wright to launch the firm’s Music Row office and lead its expanded Entertainment Law Practice Group. The location at 54 Music Square East, the former home of MCA Records, will complement Dickinson Wright’s offices in downtown Nashville.

Crownover joins as a Member and Practice Leader of the firm’s Entertainment Law practice. He is personal counsel to various tech, entertainment, media and sports franchise executives and athletes. He represents songwriters, artists, publishers and producers who have collectively sold more than 400 million records. Among his areas of practice are LLC funding, real estate acquisition and disposition, asset purchases, recording agreement negotiation, audits, employment counseling, tax matters, and wills and trusts.

Crownover has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America and Mid-South Super Lawyers. He is licensed in Tennessee and New York. He is active with the Copyright Society of the South and the T.J. Martell Foundation.

Austen Adams

Austen Adams joins Dickinson Wright as Of Counsel. He represents and advises recording artists, songwriters, producers, artist managers, music publishers, technology companies, and other music industry professionals. Adams serves as an Adjunct Professor at Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and was previously the Chair of the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association.

Robert Cameron “Cam” Caldwell joins Dickinson Wright as Of Counsel. He represents and counsels a wide array of clients, ranging from artists and songwriters to consumer product manufacturers and entertainment-related businesses. He has experience in employment law, Fair Labor Standards Act, alternative dispute resolution, and litigation. Caldwell is knowledgeable about the Federal Middle District Court of Tennessee and has served on the Executive Council of the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association.

Cam Caldwell

Marie Gurgel joins as a senior paralegal in the Entertainment Law Practice Group but will also continue her work in the Corporate and Wills and Trusts Practice Group. Charity Asher joins as a legal assistant.

“We are excited to welcome Derek, Austen and Cam and their comprehensive approach to client service in the media, technology, and entertainment industries,” said Dickinson Wright CEO William T. Burgess. “Their leading position in these fields provides an important expansion to our practice offerings as we continue to grow in Nashville and our other offices across North America.”

“This move is not only great chemistry-wise, it’s very strategic because it will allow us to be more effective in our clients’ business growth on a global scale. We have always worked as ‘primary care physicians’ of sorts assisting with LLC funding deals, real estate transactions, asset purchase agreements, recording agreements, audits, employment agreements as well as tax and wills and trusts matters,” said Crownover. “All of that will continue but we will now be able to have more coverage, handle increased business volume, and be more active in client strategies as they grow.”