Nelson-Beverly removes the barriers to her dreams

By Olivia Clarke

Heather Nelson-Beverly has rarely taken no for an answer.

When she began researching entertainment law as a career, she received negative responses from some lawyers she contacted. They told her she couldn’t have the type of career she wanted, and warned her that Chicago doesn’t have a thriving entertainment business. But she pushed past the pessimism, and created the kind of practice she dreamed about.

At age 37, Nelson-Beverly has owned the Law Office of Heather Nelson for 10 years, and practices entertainment and entertainment-related law. She lectures around the country, and is active in such organizations as the Chicago chapter of The Recording Academy, which is responsible for the Grammy Awards.

She’s looked to several key role models, especially legendary and now-deceased attorney Donald Hubert, who taught her how to not only be a good lawyer, but also how to run a successful practice.

”I really, really truly believe that there is more than one way to accomplish something,” Nelson-Beverly said. ”There is a huge thriving entertainment law practice, but you’ve just got to have the stuff.

”I would definitely say that I’m driven. I would definitely say I’m purposeful. I like to think that I’m fun along the way, despite the stresses and the schedule and the pressure a lot of the time.”

Learning the ropes

As a ninth-grader growing up in Minneapolis, Nelson-Beverly’s mother and stepfather told her that she couldn’t be the type of college student who went away to school to find herself.

There would be no backpacking trips across Europe or semesters spent searching for a major. She needed to find a career path early on because college can be expensive.

She remembered going to a library and finding a book that matched personality traits with different careers. She decided that marketing fit her personality.

She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing, with an emphasis on communications.

But the thought of taking more classes to earn an MBA did not appeal to her, so she decided to attend Chicago-Kent College of Law. She didn’t plan on practicing law, but felt law school would give her more experience and options, she said.

”Fast-forward, I get into law school and in my first year it is so different than the business school kind of curriculum,” she said. ”But I loved it. It was in my first year of law school that I started to think, ‘Gosh, if I actually decided to practice law, what area would it possibly be that I would practice in?”’

She narrowed her focus to litigation because she was fascinated by the courtroom and oral presentation; and sports law because she played competitive tennis for 10 years and is an avid sports fan.

”As I reached out to more and more friends of mine from college who actually played professional sports, football players and basketball players, to do a little bit of case study on how I would get into doing sports law, it became a little bit ominous,” she said. ”A lot of these kids were either directly referred to agents and representatives, or there’s been someone who has been around for a long time, a friend of the family, or whatever.

”I definitely thought it would be kind of challenging to walk right out of law school expecting to say, ‘Hey, I’m a sports lawyer.”’

But she kept her goals in the back of her mind while attending Chicago-Kent. At the same time she faced the challenges of affording law school.

She said a couple of deans and a financial aid administrator suggested that her only option was to withdraw if she didn’t have the finances.

Nelson-Beverly instead got a job at the Law Offices of Joseph V. Roddy — even though working and attending law school was discouraged, she said.

While in the school cafeteria one day in her work suit, a man approached her and asked if she was a lawyer. He wanted to post an internship opening for his law firm, which handled such areas as entertainment law. She introduced herself as a law student with an interest in entertainment law.

She interviewed, and got the internship at Jones & Walls, a general practice firm. Because the firm represented music groups, it dealt with things like record contracts, music licensing, and deals involving artists and producers. It also handled criminal defense, discrimination and personal injury.

”I’m working. I can’t really afford to be in law school, so I decide to get out early,” she said. ”I really fast-track my course work so I can graduate in two-and-a-half years.

”I want to say, towards the end of my second year I started really thinking seriously about what would be the next step.”

Meeting her mentor

During a Chicago-Kent career day in her last semester, students could pick different workshops and sessions to attend.

Most law students picked the big and mid-size firm sessions, because that’s where the bigger money is, she said.

But Nelson-Beverly read Don Hubert’s biography, and the information about his solo and small-firm workshop.

”In reading his bio, I was absolutely blown away, and I asked to be transferred into that workshop,” she said. ”I went into that workshop, and saw him speak, and he was talking about himself and the practice area and the benefits of being in a small environment and the family environment at [a small] firm.”

At the end of the workshop she asked for his business card, but he said he didn’t have any. She told him she would like to intern for him, but he said he had no positions. But she wasn’t dissuaded.

She said she at least wanted to meet with him at his office. She went there the next day with her resume in hand. He sat down with her and again told her there were no positions, but he wanted to know her story.

”I told him, ‘After seeing you speak and after learning more about you, I would give anything to just have the experience of working with someone with the credentials you have and the caliber of the caseload you have,”’ she said. ”I said, ‘I really just want to learn how to be a good lawyer.”’

Nelson-Beverly said Hubert was very concerned about what she hoped to get out of an internship with only a few months left of law school. He said he was definitely not looking for an associate.

”I told him, ‘You know, six weeks with the best, even if I have to leave, is going to be worth it for my career,”’ she said.

She interned for him in the fall of 1995, and he hired her as an associate in 1996 because he needed extra help handling a large Chicago ward redistricting case.

Her first year as an associate was an interesting, whirlwind year. The firm not only handled a large caseload, but Hubert also had a very public, and somewhat political position, as president of the Chicago Bar Association, she said.

”Whenever you start at a new firm or a new job, you are always told to be the first to get there, be the last to leave,” she said. ”But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t do it. Don would be there at the crack of dawn and he would work until the wee hours of the morning, just late, late nights.

”He never stopped working, yet was always composed, always sharp — especially in public. His public persona and demeanor were just absolutely magnetic.”

Hubert often spoke candidly with Nelson-Beverly and the other associate, Debby Goldman. Eating pizza at 10 p.m., as they got ready for a case, he would tell them war stories or offer coaching advice, she said.

”It was like working for your dad, it really was,” she said. ”Even with all the demands on him personally, he still took so much time in the personal development of myself and Debby Goldman. He’d be there for us to practice our opening statements and closing arguments for cases.”

Making the leap

Despite enjoying her time working for Hubert, Nelson-Beverly never gave up her passion for entertainment law.

She said she knew she couldn’t pursue this dream right out of law school because she needed to learn how to be a lawyer first. But Hubert recognized her desire to pursue entertainment law, and sent her to workshops and conferences that focused on that area.

While attending conferences, she started meeting people who were looking for legal help. Hubert allowed her to work on those entertainment matters on the side.

”What happened is I actually started developing a practice that I saw had the potential to really grow,” Nelson-Beverly said. ”It was at that point that I had a talk with Don and said, ‘I’m thinking of doing my own thing.”’

Hubert offered to start an entertainment side within the practice so that she would stay, but she said there was really no room.

She made the decision to go out on her own, but she asked Hubert and two other lawyers to work cases with her while she got started.

At first, she not only handled entertainment law, but also areas like criminal defense and real estate. But within nine months she focused only on entertainment law.

”It was definitely a little intimidating, because the buck stops with you,” she said. ”It is now up to you to be able to generate the business in order to really survive.”

Early on she lucked out. One of the first music groups she represented locally, hip-hop group Do or Die, found success in the music industry and sold over 800,000 copies of its first album.

”They ended up being a really big deal,” she said. ”And, quite frankly, entertainment, like any other area of the law, is one where word-of-mouth is very important. If you get associated with what turns out to be a high-profile client, it starts to serve as its own advertising.”

As she built her firm, she was very thankful for her business degree, and for the time she spent working for Hubert. She learned valuable lessons from him about the business side of a small law firm.

”By being in an environment where it is a small firm you have contact with clients the minute they come in the door, until you close their case,” she said. ”You are involved in all elements of running the business, which was a benefit. [My firm] really kind of took on its own life, thank goodness … I pretty much tried to plan as best I could to be prepared for it.”

Today’s entertainment industry

Nelson-Beverly has worked with such clients as ”The Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, and former White Sox player Frank Thomas with regard to his record label.

She primarily represents clients in the music industry. Many of her clients tend to be businesses, such as independent record labels and marketing companies. But she also maintains a steady client base of artists, music producers, and songwriters.

Nelson-Beverly said lawyers often intimidate artists, so she tries to be approachable, and she explains the legal side of the music industry in easy-to-digest information so that they understand what is going on.

”It’s wonderful to have a relationship and know that these clients kind of depend on you and kind of trust your word,” she said. ”I have a young producer right now who, for the last several years, would just call me and say, ‘I’ve got questions. I just want to learn.’

”Now he’s got his first placement with a major record company. He’s being looked at by some pretty big-deal artists … We started when maybe he could only give me $50, but I’m like, ‘I don’t care. You are eager to learn.”’

Today she represents many gospel music artists, such as, Shari Addison, runner-up in the BET show, ”Sunday Best.” She also represents Sheri Jones-Moffett, who had a 2007 Grammy-nominated song.

Nelson-Beverly works with Jonathan Nelson, an award-winning songwriter, who, she said, has written for some of the biggest names in gospel music. She has worked with him for several years, and negotiated his recent contract with Integrity Music.

”She’s the best. She’s phenomenal,” Jonathan Nelson said. ”My wife is a hard sell and she met Heather face-to-face not too long ago and they’ve turned into girlfriends. They just hit it off — She has helped me to become further established and organized.”

He said Nelson-Beverly is responsive to her clients’ needs, and, if she doesn’t have an answer, she commits to finding the right one within 24 hours.

”If you can’t get along with Heather Nelson then there is something sorely wrong with you, he said. ”I just wish that more people knew about her. She will become a highly sought-after attorney in the future.”

On the corporate side, she represents such companies as Nu Face Entertainment, a full-service boutique marketing and branding house.

Rita Lee, the company’s founder and CEO, said Nelson-Beverly’s ethics and service-oriented approach make her a good lawyer. She helps her clients understand the law, as opposed to simply giving them paperwork and telling them to sign it.

”She makes sure your business has the protection and the infrastructure to do business for years to come,” Lee said. ”If you want to adjust or change your company, the infrastructure put around you is very flexible.”

Peter Strand, senior counsel at Holland & Knight who focuses on entertainment and intellectual property, said Nelson-Beverly knows what she’s talking about.

”Heather has all the skills and she is also a good face to put on entertainment representation because she is competent and pleasant and she knows what things to battle over and what things not to battle over,” Strand said.

Life-work balance

One of the strengths she believes she brings to her law firm is that she handles litigation, which many entertainment lawyers don’t do, she said.

Her skills helped her, for example, when she represented a client with contracts with a major record label and a prestigious artist manager. The client needed to get out of both contracts because she was filing for bankruptcy.

When Nelson-Beverly and her client showed up to court on the first day, about five large-law firm lawyers, which the record label hired, greeted them. The lawyers ended up not arguing the case because it was briefed fully. The judge wrote a written opinion, and read his ruling in her client’s favor.

”It was kind of one of those David-and-Goliath type moments, especially when you are solo,” she said. ”I might have still been practicing out of my living room.”

When she started her career she interviewed in Los Angeles at places like Paramount Pictures and Sony, but they looked down on the fact that she didn’t attend a top 10 law school.

But she said she knew she made it in her career when that didn’t matter anymore. For example, Harvard Law School invited her to speak at the school about entertainment law — an experience that meant a great deal to her.

Nelson-Beverly said owning her own firm gives her flexibility.

When she first started her law firm, her grandmother was dying from cancer. She was able to gather some paperwork and her laptop and head to Minnesota. She could handle work, and still visit with her grandmother before she died.

”When I was there I was able to spend more one-on-one time with my grandmother than some of my relatives who lived there because they, of course, had to go to work,” she said. ”It was kind of like the light bulb goes on and you go, ‘This is what this is for.”’

She said if it allows her to provide for others or see loved ones more regularly, ”At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about and that’s what really motivates me.”

That flexibility allows her to live with her husband Anthony Beverly in California while still practicing in Illinois. She splits her time each month between both states.

She also has many more goals beyond her legal practice. She’s trying to write two books, and is in the process of starting a non-profit organization called, What’s Your Legacy? She wants to inspire others to look beyond instant gratification, and focus on what their legacy will be to society.

When asked what her legacy is, she said, ”It is to inspire others to dream big, and not pay attention to all the no’s, and to not take adversity as a block to getting what you want, but to see it as something that you’ve got to overcome to get what you want.”

Just as she received mentoring from such lawyers as Hubert, she too tries to mentor others. She said she remembers what it was like when some lawyers didn’t help her, and how she benefited from those who did.

”I got a lot of unanswered calls when I tried to do research [about entertainment law],” she said. ”I vowed that I would never do that.”

One person she mentors is Shayla Cooper, who is of counsel to her firm.

”She just trusted me with her business, trusted me with her clients and made herself available to me for anything,” Cooper said. ”The way that she gives of herself, her expertise, her career — basically everything that I know about the entertainment industry I know because of her.”