About us

In todayʼs world, understanding and applying the law is not enough. The lawyers you
choose need to understand your business and your objectives and will help you achieve
them.

At Jacobson Attorneys we understand that business is about building relationships:

whether that business is conducted on the web or out in the world. We facilitate your
business by building the legal frameworks in which your business relationships can thrive.

What we do

Jacobson Attorneys has a dedicated social media and commercial division. Each division
can function individually or as a unit depending on your needs and the unique risks
associated with your business.

Broadly speaking, we build better legal frameworks for our clients and help our clients
make better decisions about their legal relationships, the Web and digital media.

That is a pretty broad overview of what we do. We find it helpful to use a few analogies to
explain our work in simple terms. You can think of us almost as architects and builders or
even as software developers in a legal sense.

We use our knowledge and expertise in a number of areas of the law to build legal
frameworks that our clients need to conduct their business and achieve their objectives
every day. These frameworks are a little like building, we don't just give you a few fittings
and some paint, we develop the legal equivalent of the foundations, the walls, doors,
finishings and that great artwork you have over your receptionist's desk.

In practical legal terms these frameworks are your agreements with your service providers,
your customers and your trading partners. They include lease agreements, service level
agreements, advertising and sponsorship agreements and more. When it comes to the
Web and digital media, these frameworks take the form of website terms of use, privacy
policies and content licenses. These are the essential tools you need to conduct various
aspects of your business in a legal environment that reduces your exposure to risk as
much as possible. It is important not to underestimate your legal requirements and take
shortcuts. Our emphasis is on producing agreements and documents that work as they are
intended to, over producing quick and inadequate "1 pagers". After all, when you build your
house, you want a solid foundation, all 4 walls and a roof over your head. The same
principle applies to legal frameworks like agreements and policy documents.

These frameworks' complexity is really dependent on your requirements. You may need
something fairly simple or you may need to develop a fairly complicated legal structure to
accommodate a complex business relationship. We can help you do what you need to do
by building that framework for you.

Legally speaking

We are a niche new media law firm and provides services tailored for the Web and digital
media as well as a range of commercial legal services. The legal frameworks we create
include the following:

• Content licensing both online and offline (this includes both open content licenses and
custom licenses)

• Protection of personal information and respect for privacy online

• Anticipating and managing competition from employees and third parties

• Developing and maintaining a benign publishing environment (this includes protecting

freedom of expression and addressing defamation)

• Compliance with relevant legislation such as the Electronic Communications and

Transactions Act as well as emerging privacy legislation

• Formulating policies and guidelines to govern use of your IT infrastructure and

processing personal information

• Preparing a variety of agreements including service level agreements, leases, trading

terms and conditions and so on.

We also have roughly a decade's experience in commercial litigation and general

commercial legal work. Our new media services are based, to a large extent, on our
general commercial legal expertise which forms a vital foundation. In order for Web and
digital media related projects to have real-world applications, they must interface with the
commercial world and that is where we come in. We provide the legal glue that connects
our clients' creative and innovative work with the legal demands of the commercial world.

Our innovative clients include banks, marketing and advertising agencies, mobile service
providers, large publications and other innovative companies seeking to develop, profitably
exploit and manage their intellectual property both online and offline.

Who we are

The founding partners of Jacobson Attorneys are Paul Jacobson and Shirley Fodor, who
bring a diverse range of complimentary experience and expertise in various legal fields
which has resulted in a steady client base consisting of banks, PR and events
management groups, internet based traders and fast moving consumer groups.

Paul Jacobson

Paul Jacobson is Jacobson Attorneys' founder

and senior partner. He started out his career as a
commercial litigation attorney with Werksmans
Incorporated and left to start his own practice,
Jacobson Attorneys, in August 2005. On 1 August
2007 he launched a new media law and policy
focus area in Jacobson Attorneys. This new
emphasis draws on his experience with social
media to provide an innovative service to clients
involved in the new media space.

He has worked as General Counsel for the non-

profit organisation iCommons and served as a
member of a sub-committee of the SA Standards
sub-committee dealing with Information
Te c h n o l o g y : D o c u m e n t D e s c r i p t i o n a n d
Processing Languages which recently considered and rejected the proposed Office Open
XML standard in South Africa. He is presently also a part-time WASPA adjudicator and
considers complaints filed against mobile operators registered as WASPA members.

Paul focuses on the intersect between social media (or "new media") and the law. He is
particularly interested in open content licenses, protection of personal information and
freedom of expression on the Web. He has maintained blogs since December 2004 and
takes an active interest in the South African online digital community. He is also a social
media fanatic and makes use of a variety of online services to interact with clients,
colleagues and members of the broader online community including Twitter.

Shirley Fodor

Shirley Fodor completed her studies (BCom, LLb

LLM Public International Law (Cum Laude)) at the
Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of
Johannesburg) in 2000 and articled with the late
Julian Solomon in commercial litigation. Upon
completion of her articles she spent two years in
academia at Rhodes University and the University
of the Witwatersrand, lecturing in the law of
contract, the law of negotiable instruments,
commercial law, company law, public international
law and the law of civil procedure. She joined
Mervyn Taback Incorporated and Taback and
Associates in 2005 where she accepted a
directorship in January 2007 until she resigned in
December 2009 to join Jacobson Attorneys.
Shirley is additionally qualified to practice in England and Wales.

Shirley is well versed in all aspects of commercial law and has experience in various
sectors of industry including the mining sector and fast moving consumer goods. She has
been involved in numerous high profile mergers and acquisitions, BEE restructures,
listings and is frequently called upon to provide opinions on various aspects of these
transactions.
Get in touch

P O Box 189, Melrose Arch 2076

94 Athol Street, Highlands North, Johannesburg

[t] +27 (0)11 440 5132

[f] +27 (0)86 683 1731

[e] paulj@jacobson.co.za

[w] www.jacobson.co.za

or

webtechlaw.com

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