Michelle Lamardo is Counsel for the firm, practicing in the fields of entertainment and media, intellectual property, privacy and employment law. She has worked on numerous television and documentary programs and is well versed in all aspects of production legal, from development and rights acquisition, to talent and broadcaster agreements, to pre-publication review and fair use analysis. She also advises individual creatives, from on-camera talent, to athletes, models and authors in their various endeavors. Ms. Lamardo is well-versed in intellectual property matters such as copyright and trademark protection and prosecution and is accredited by the International Association of Privacy Professionals as a Certified Information Privacy Professional with a focus in US private-sector privacy law.

Prior to joining RPJ, Ms. Lamardo was Counsel in the Business and Legal Affairs department at ITV America, where she served as production counsel on a variety of programming, including the Emmy® Award-winning Queer Eye for Netflix, The Real Housewives of New Jersey for Bravo, I Was a Child Bride: The Untold Story for A&E and ESPN’s 30 for 30 film, Year of the Scab. She got her start in the industry as an assistant in ICM Partners’ Alternative Television group.

Ms. Lamardo is admitted to practice in New York.

Ms. Lamardo received her undergraduate degree in International Comparative Studies with a concentration in the Middle East and minors in Arabic and French languages from Duke University (A.B., 2011), and her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D., 2014).

While at Duke University, Ms. Lamardo studied abroad at the Université de Paris Diderot.

During law school, Ms. Lamardo was a member of the First Amendment Law Review and President of the Sports and Entertainment Law Association. While at Duke University, she performed as a member of the Dancing Devils, Duke’s nationally renowned official dance team. During the off-season, she spent time volunteering at Saint Andrew’s School for Refugees in Cairo, Egypt.

Selected Articles & Publications

• “Will Smith just smacked the snot out of me!” – Television Censorship in 2022 RPJ – March 31, 2022
• “Ace Ventura v. Joe Exotic”  RPJ – February 18, 2022
• “Whether True or False – It’s None of Your Business.” RPJ – December 2, 2021
• “Need to Know: This Defamation Case Could be Good News for Non-Fiction Producers,” Realscreen, authored by Ms. Lamardo – March 19, 2021
• “Updates to New York State Film Tax Credit Program Extend Timeline but Reduce Credit,” RPJ – April 29, 2020
• “3 Things You Need to Know If You’re Streaming Fitness Content During COVID-19,” RPJ – March 20, 2020

Noted Speaking Engagements

• “New Trends in Ethics and Documentaries,” Panel Moderator with RPJ Partner Nicole Page, DOC NYC PRO: Documentary and the Law – November 18, 2021
• “Who Tells the Story? Ethics in Documentary Production,” [Begins at 1:02:30] Panel Moderator with RPJ Partner Nicole Page, DOC NYC PRO: Documentary and the Law – October 14, 2020