Your questions — their answers! The EXPO 2023 LEGAL PANEL
The EXPO Legal Panel has consistently been one of the convention’s most popular sessions. Yet no matter what the subjects discussed may be, panel attendees routinely wait in eager anticipation for the open Q&A period that typically concludes each legal panel. Think of it like this: the Legal Panel itself is the meal, and the open Q&A — where attendees can ask industry attorneys legal questions that are specific to their situation — is the dessert.
Well at EXPO 2023, we’re skipping the legal dinner and going right to dessert! That is, the entire one hour of the Legal Panel will be presented in a question-and-answer format. And instead of waiting until the final day of EXPO to get your legal questions answered, we’ve moved the Legal Panel right up front and slated it for Monday, August 21, from 1-2 pm. The EXPO 2023 Legal Panel is sponsored by Pole Position and will feature four industry attorneys, including Ben Allen, Devon Lyon, Zack Youngsma and Will King.
NOTE: We encourage attendees to submit your specific legal question prior to EXPO! Please email ED’s legal correspondent Larry Kaplan (who is coordinating the legal panel) at larry@kaplanclubsales.com with your specific question, and be sure to include your name and the name/address of your club.
Here’s more about the participating attorneys:
Ben Allen is a founding partner in the law firm of Wallace & Allen, LLP, board certified in Labor and Employment law. He frequently defends adult clubs nationally on employment and wage-and-hour matters and has successfully mounted constitutional challenges to state government regulation on clubs’ behalf.
Will King, a senior attorney at the McDowell Hetherington LLP law firm, represents adult clubs in cases involving First Amendment challenges, regulatory matters, employment disputes, etc. He’s secured numerous wins for his club clients and the industry more broadly, including noteworthy Fifth Circuit opinions addressing dancer classification status, collective action procedures, and the constitutionality of regulatory fees.
Devon M. Lyon is the owner and lead attorney at the labor and employment law firm, Lyon Legal, P.C. Ms. Lyon has represented adult clubs nationally in labor and employment law matters, unauthorized use of images (model suits), insurance matters, dancer safety, and proactively preventing discrimination, harassment, and retaliation-related lawsuits.
Zack Youngsma is an associate attorney at Shafer & Associates, P.C. He has represented adult businesses in matters ranging from advising on employment and labor law compliance to defending clubs on any number of matters including wage and hour suits, to zoning/licensing challenges, to corporate transactional work. Zack is licensed in both Michigan and Nevada.
