Katherine de Vos Devine translates sophisticated legal strategy into decisive action for creative professionals—because the law should work for artists, not against them.

Lawyer, scholar, and strategist. I teach what I practice: relational law that protects both your work and your working relationships.

Implement Legal is the firm I built to bring Fortune 50 legal sophistication to creative businesses at a sustainable scale. We serve artists, filmmakers, galleries, production companies, and creative agencies who need strategic counsel without corporate overhead.

Our approach centers on relational law: legal frameworks that protect both individual rights and the collaborative ecosystems creative businesses depend on. Traditional IP practice forces you to choose between defending your work and preserving partnerships. We architect solutions that honor both. Where others see contracts, we see relationships. Where others see risk, we see frameworks for sustainable growth.

I analyze legal challenges the way an art historian analyzes paintings—looking for patterns others miss. My doctoral research examined appropriation art and transformative use doctrine from the 1990s–2010s, studying how Richard Prince appropriated Patrick Cariou's photographs, how Sherrie Levine re-photographed Walker Evans, and how Jeff Koons deployed commercial imagery. That research proved prescient: the 2023 Supreme Court decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith validated my central argument that fair use doctrine enables extraction by powerful "genius" artists from working creators treated as "raw materials."

Now, tech companies deploy the same legal arguments to justify training AI on copyrighted works without permission or compensation. Transformative use doctrine, crafted to protect artistic expression, has become a tool for capitalist extraction.

My legal practice centers on copyright, trademark, and business entity formation. I advise on licensing agreements, gallery representation, commission structures, and estate planning. I co-chair the College Art Association Committee on Intellectual Property, shaping policy within creative communities rather than reacting to court decisions.

I also teach Art & Entertainment Law at Queens University of Charlotte, bringing current litigation and contract negotiation into the classroom.

My legal practice centers on copyright, trademark, and the business structures that support sustainable creative work. I advise artists, galleries, production companies, record labels, and creative agencies—clients generating between $100K and $1M annually who need sophisticated counsel without corporate overhead.

Law

Art History

Art history trained me to analyze what gets included in the canon and what gets excluded—whose work gets preserved, whose gets forgotten, whose contributions get credited, whose become invisible. These aren't abstract questions. They're about power, money, and who controls the narrative. I'm particularly interested in appropriation art, feminist art history, and the political economy of culture. My research examined not just legal outcomes but power dynamics—when celebrity artists extract from working creators and win on fair use grounds, that reveals who the law protects. That analytical framework makes me a better strategist for creative professionals navigating asymmetric power.

Teaching

I teach students to ask: Who has power in this transaction? Whose interests does this contract serve? What relationships does this agreement create, preserve, or damage? My pedagogical approach comes from an unusual foundation: I began teaching sex education, helping young adults understand consent and boundaries. That work shaped everything that followed. Both sex education and art law center on self-advocacy, clear communication, and negotiating agreements where power dynamics matter. Beyond Queens, I speak at industry conferences and cultural institutions on fair use, AI copyright litigation, and artist estate planning. Teaching keeps my practice sharp.

Writing

Protect Your Magic examines intellectual property law through a feminist lens, combining legal analysis, art historical research, and cultural criticism. I also write The Secret Weapon on LinkedIn, translating legal concepts into strategic frameworks for creative professionals. My writing draws on twenty years of reading across disciplines: art history, legal theory, cultural economics, feminist philosophy. I'm as likely to cite Linda Nochlin or Silvia Federici as court decisions. I write the way I practice law: with intellectual precision, and without pretension.

Recent Public Speaking