Interview with Kathryn Goldman
IP Attorney & Founder, Creative Law Center
Interview Summary
Intellectual property attorney Kathryn Goldman pivoted from 25 years of litigation to building the Creative Law Center, where a membership model integrates affordable legal education with accrued one-on-one attorney time. Her insight: for service businesses, courses work best as a foundation that feeds your core service — not as standalone products.
From Litigation to Education
After 25 years of copyright and trademark litigation, Kathryn Goldman noticed a pattern: her clients kept making the same preventable mistakes. But a prepackaged course did not fit her practice — "I don't represent people who have the same problems over and over. All of my clients have unique stories." The solution was not a traditional course but a membership model that bundles legal education with access to her expertise. Members pay $67/month, and those fees accrue toward actual attorney time. "The membership fees accrue to attorney time. They're always going to be clients," she explains. The course content handles foundational knowledge; the attorney time handles the unique situations.
The membership fees accrue to attorney time. They're always going to be clients.
Member-Driven Content
Rather than planning a curriculum in advance, Kathryn lets members suggest monthly workshop topics. This ensures the content stays relevant to what creative professionals actually need — current copyright developments, specific contract questions, new marketplace challenges. She built her foundational course as a knowledge base that sits inside the membership, covering core IP concepts every creative professional should understand. Members access it at their own pace, while live workshops address emerging questions. Non-members can purchase individual workshops, creating a low-barrier entry point that makes the math obviously favor membership.
Persistence Through the First Year
Kathryn is candid about the difficulty of the first year: "Stick with it. Just be persistent. It takes time to build these things and to gain traction. In the first year, I just felt like I was knocking my head against the wall." Three years later, with 260+ members and a growing workshop audience, she describes her practice transformation: "I've been able to transition my legal practice to something that just makes it pleasant to go to work every day." The membership model smoothed her revenue, reduced the stress of constant client acquisition, and created a community of creatives who genuinely appreciate legal education.
I've been able to transition my legal practice to something that just makes it pleasant to go to work every day.
Kathryn's Action Steps
Kathryn recommends these 3 steps to improve your course planning:
Consider a membership where fees accrue to your core service
If you run a service business, create a subscription where monthly fees accrue toward consulting, coaching, or professional hours. This creates natural retention and a steady client pipeline.
Let members suggest workshop topics
Turn your foundational course into a knowledge base, then let member questions drive monthly live workshops. The content stays relevant and members feel ownership over the community direction.
Offer individual workshop purchases as entry points
Allow non-members to buy single workshops at a price that makes membership obviously the better deal. This creates a natural conversion path without hard selling.
About Kathryn Goldman
IP Attorney & Founder, Creative Law Center
Kathryn Goldman is an intellectual property and internet law attorney at Goldman & Minton and founder of the Creative Law Center. With 25+ years in litigation covering copyright, trademark, and contracts, she built a membership community of 260+ creative professionals integrating legal education with affordable access to attorney time.
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From Course Lab with Abe Crystal & Ari Iny on Mirasee FM