Resources

Legal Issues

Create Wisconsin provides legal information, partnerships, and connections for Wisconsin artists, performers, nonprofit and for-profit businesses, and other creative entrepreneurs. Create Wisconsin is often listed in legal directories as the state's Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts organization (VLA). Although Wisconsin does not have a separate and independent statewide VLA, Create Wisconsin strives to assist people, organizations, businesses, and communities in need.

Create Wisconsin partners with the State Bar of Wisconsin's Pro Bono program to seek legal assistance. We make every effort to find representation, although the State Bar doesn't guarantee assistance. Send a message with a brief description of your to info@createwisconsin.org

And, below are additional resources to address legal issues, which may get assistance for your issue more quickly than the State Bar.

Wisconsin assistance:

• Wisconsin Entertainment Lawyers Association www.entlaw.org

• Legal Action Wisconsin: www.legalaction.org

• Info from the Wisconsin State Law Library

• Directory of self-help legal resources in Wisconsin counties (Wisconsin Supreme Court)

• Most counties in Wisconsin have county bar associations. It may be easier and faster to seek assistance closer to home. Click here for info on county bar associations.

Other resources:

• Create Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Entertainment Lawyers Association presented a workshop on “Legal Issues for Artists, Creatives, and Content Creators” on January 22, 2025.

  • Recording here

  • Passcode: d*TtHuc7

• NAVIGATING THE COPYRIGHT CLAIMS BOARD: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR CREATORS - a guide created through a partnership to better understand the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) as a resource for creatives between the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) and Stanford University’s Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation (JIPIC).

Milwaukee area legal resources:  

• Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic and link to: https://law.marquette.edu/mvlc/

• Marquette Nonprofit Clinic and link to: https://law.marquette.edu/mvlc/. See clinic information under Appointment Based Services.

• Legal Aid Milwaukee: www.lasmilwaukee.com/

• Milwaukee Justice Center: www.milwaukeejusticecenter.org

• Milwaukee Bar Association Lawyer Referral & Information Service

Madison area:  click here for Madison area low cost legal assistance info.