Taylor Swift promotes a high-powered attorney to be general counsel of 13 Management in a rare staffing change to her closely-guarded Nashville-based company.
Taylor Swift is promoting attorney Douglas Baldridge, a partner at Washington, D.C. law firm Venable, to be the new general counsel of her 13 Management company, replacing Jay Schaudies, who is retiring. This shift in staffing is rare for the popstar’s closely-guarded company, run partly by her parents, including her father, Scott Swift, a broker.
The 33-year-old singer-songwriter is known for keeping her circle tight and her business close. Swift typically takes an active role in her business activities rather than delegating them, such as not using a booking agent for the U.S. leg of her continuing Eras Tour.
Baldridge is a veteran commercial litigator and serves as outside counsel for Swift, successfully representing her in a highly-publicized sexual harassment trial against an on-air radio personality in 2017. He also defended her against trademark infringement and dilution claims in 2015, when Swift settled a legal disagreement out of court with clothing company Blue Sphere.
A one-time chair of Venable’s Washington litigation group, Baldridge has represented major US corporations in the pharmaceutical, technology, and consumer products industries, as well as entertainers and real-estate developers. He is expected to complete his tenure with Venable in the coming weeks as he transitions to Swift’s team full-time.
Swift’s 13 Management handles much of her business independently, but this change in staffing does not mean the star is bringing her entire legal team in-house. Swift will retain the services of Venable, according to a person directly familiar with the matter. Venable’s music clientele has also included Snoop Dogg and Barry Manilow.
Taylor Swift also continues to work with well-known music industry attorney Donald Passman of Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, who is the author of the book, “All You Need to Know About the Music Business.”
As one of the biggest and most widely followed contemporary superstars, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is projected to generate over $1 billion in concert ticket sales. This week, she became the first woman with four different albums in the Billboard 200 album chart’s Top 10 at once. With the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), a re-recording of her 2010 album, Swift also achieved her twelfth chart-topping record — the most of any female artist.
