Art, Biglaw

A MoFo Attorney Tries to Capitalize on the Art of Contract Law

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Morrison & Foerster tends to attract quirky types. The firm is demonstrably offbeat, from its mildly bizarre website to its embracing the moniker “MoFo.” So we were not particularly surprised when an artist type auctioning off a piece of conceptual art on eBay turned out to be a lawyer from the firm.

Alfred Steiner is a tech and IP lawyer in MoFo’s New York office. He described the piece to us thusly:

In a conceptually reductive context where works are increasingly defined more by an agreement between artist and collector (whether written or oral, tacit or explicit) than by the tangible manifestation of the work itself, what would a work become if it were reduced to be coextensive with that agreement, that is, if that agreement were the work itself?

Yup, the piece of art is a contract. What we were surprised by was how much a contract from a Morrison & Foerster attorney went for on eBay…

You can check out the agreement auctioned on eBay here. Here’s the crux of the agreement:

Purchaser’s Right to Transfer the Work. Purchaser acknowledges and agrees that the Work is not the physical document on which this Agreement appears, but the underlying contract between Artist and Purchaser. As such, Purchaser may not assign, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose of the Work except by assigning the Agreement in accordance herewith. Purchaser may assign this Agreement provided that (a) the assignee agrees to be bound by the same terms and conditions as Purchaser hereunder by signing in the space provided below and sending a copy of the Agreement with such additional signature to Artist at alfred@alfredsteiner.com, and (b) contemporaneously with such assignment, Purchaser pays to Artist an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of any consideration Purchaser receives in connection with such assignment, which such amounts Purchaser shall record in the spaces provided below. If Purchaser or a permitted assignee is a natural person, this Agreement may also be assigned by operation of law upon the death of Purchaser or such permitted assignee. Except as provided herein, any purported assignment, transfer or delegation by Purchaser shall be null and void. Subject to the foregoing, this Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns.

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Like the Caleb Larsen-designed piece “A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter” — an electronic black box that connects itself to eBay and resells itself without the permission of a collector — the artist gets a cut every time it is resold (15% in the case of Larsen’s black box and 10% with Steiner’s contractual piece).

So how much did the piece sell for? The denizens of eBay don’t seem to understand what a contract from a MoFo attorney is really valued at. There were 10 bids, and the winning bid was $20.50. Hopefully its worth increases in the future.

We asked Steiner if MoFo might be disappointed in that valuation of a contract by one of their attorneys. He told us:

Fortunately, the auction wasn’t for legal services, in which case I don’t think the firm would be too happy about it.

The sales price was not terribly important to me. The crux of the piece is that it consists entirely of a legally binding agreement, and nothing else.

Well, unemployed law grads, maybe you should try being starving artists instead and see if you can pass off some of your legal skills as art.

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Bid History [eBay]

Earlier: Adventures in Lawyer Advertising: What the MoFo?

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