Ari Solotoff, Esq.

ABA Forum on Entertainment & Sports Industries
Chair, Theatre & Performing Arts Division
Adjunct Instructor
Eastman School of Music (Law and Music)
Indiana University, O’Neill School (Legal Issues in the Arts)
University of Maine School of Law (Entertainment Law)
University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre & Dance (Legal Issues in the Arts)
Best Lawyers®
2021-24 Ones to Watch, Entertainment and Sports Law
Super Lawyers®
2020-23 New England Rising Stars, Intellectual Property

“I love helping clients achieve their creative and business goals. I’m especially passionate about working with Maine artists, who reflect the incredible beauty, ingenuity, and talent within our state.”

Ari Solotoff is an entertainment lawyer and the Managing Attorney at Solotoff Law. He launched the firm in 2020 with a specialized focus on counseling clients at the intersection of copyright, entertainment, literary publishing, and the arts. Ari also serves as an adjunct professor at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, the University of Maine School of Law, and the University of Michigan, where he teaches courses on Entertainment Law, Music Law, and Legal Issues in the Arts.

Ari's practice uniquely blends representation of a diverse range of clients, who are known for defining and defying contemporary culture (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame producers; Billboard-charting catalogs; Pulitzer Prize-winning literary authors; Top 20 podcast producers; and today's leading composers, concert artists, and ensembles), and copyright-driven cases (valuation and sale of music catalogs; digital therapeutic use of prescription music; scripted, unscripted, and documentary television and motion picture development and production; theatrical adaptations; literary rights acquisitions; and cutting edge issues in comedy recording rights and distribution). Of particular note, Ari has been sought out for his work with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists and their estates, regularly championing issues of equity, inclusion, and representation on stage, online, and on radio airwaves.

Ari has been recognized as Maine's "Artful Lawyer" for his role in helping "composers, songwriters, filmmakers and other creative people avoid the legal pitfalls of the music and entertainment businesses" (Maine Sunday Telegram). He has been consistently identified by his peers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice, including as one of entertainment law's "Rising Stars" (SuperLawyers) and "Ones to Watch" (Best Lawyers in America); Ari is the only entertainment lawyer in New England to hold these distinctions.

Before entering private law practice, Ari emerged as "one of the top young administrators in the orchestra world" (Portland Press Herald) after a decade of arts leadership in classical music, including service as Executive Vice President of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he played a pivotal role in helping guide the legendary and world-renowned ensemble through a complex strategic planning and Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. He also completed highly successful tenures as Executive Director for the Portland and Pensacola Symphonies.

An active member of the entertainment and copyright bars, Ari serves as the Chair of the Theatre & Performing Arts Division of the American Bar Association's Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries, and also as a member and frequent panelist for the Copyright Committee of the American Association of Literary Agents.

Ari maintains a deep commitment to improving access to justice and the arts within Maine. In 2019, he was awarded the Maine Justice Foundation's New Lawyer Award for exemplifying the foundation’s mission to ensure that all Mainers have access to the justice system.

Ari has lectured on topics in music, copyright, and the law at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Oberlin College Conservatory, the University of Chicago, and for the League of American Orchestras. He has also spoken on panels for the Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association, American Composers Orchestra, and the Maine Film Association.

Prior to launching Solotoff Law, Ari was a transactional associate attorney at Bernstein Shur, where he concentrated on copyright, entertainment, and corporate cases. Ari is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maine School of Law; served as Managing Editor of the Maine Law Review; and completed judicial internships with Justice Jon D. Levy of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and Judge Kermit Lipez of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Languages from the University of California, Berkeley. Ari is also an alumnus of the AMEX Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders and the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program of the League of American Orchestras.

Ari lives in Portland, Maine with his spouse and their two children.

EDUCATION
JD, University of Maine School of Law, magna cum laude
BA, Classical Languages, University of California, Berkeley

ADMITTED TO PRACTICE
Maine

MEMBERSHIPS
American Bar Association, Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries
Copyright Society of the USA