Working with Legal Counsel to Protect Your Film

Dale Cohen is Director and founder of the UCLA Doc Film Legal Clinic, where he leads a group of student-clinicians providing pro bono counsel to documentary filmmakers on a wide range of content issues, including vetting of films for copyright/fair use issues, and production counsel on all matters that filmmakers may encounter. Dale is a frequent speaker at media and entertainment law conferences and film festivals and also teaches a Media Law class at UCLA Law. He is co-author of leading textbook Media and the Law (2d Ed. Carolina Press).

Dale has also served as Special Counsel to Frontline, the award‐winning PBS documentary series, for nearly a decade. His extensive experience as a media lawyer, litigator and news executive includes positions at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, NPR, Cox Enterprises, Inc. and Tribune Company. Dale was also a litigation partner at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Denton’s) in Chicago.

Benjamin Flaherty is an Austin-based filmmaker with a diverse collection of work, from documentary and art films with Lou Reed & Julian Schnabel to commercial spots for major brands. His short form PSA’s have been awarded at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, and the Clios. His feature documentary debut, Shuffle, won the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW 2025.

Carra Greenberg has produced commercials, docu-series and feature content for a variety of brands and networks. Her first feature documentary, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution, explored the women’s movement through the lens of the original Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and won a Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. Havanna Libre documents the underground world of surfing in Cuba. Her most recent documentary SHUFFLE won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at SXSW. She is currently the Head of Production at Ritual Arts, a boutique studio focusing on storytelling that inspires culture change. She is an honors graduate of New York Law School’s Social Justice Policy Center.