Kara Paldino
An expert in entertainment, advertising, marketing and promotions law, partnering with clients to effectively manage risks and handle all contracts related to content creation and brand campaigns.
Kara Paldino founded Paldino Law in 2024 after spending 18 years in-house at NBCUniversal. Kara joined NBCU in 2006 as a lawyer focused on reality show production for the Bravo cable television network, handling all legal matters from development through exhibition and marketing of competition shows, docuseries and digital content. Kara advised internal executives (creative, production & operations, business affairs, marketing, digital, communications, standards, ad sales), other internal lawyers and producers’ counsel to expertly manage show risks, and Kara drafted, reviewed and negotiated all production-related agreements. As the television landscape changed, Kara’s practice evolved to be a show lawyer working on all NBCUniversal scripted and unscripted cable and broadcast network shows, handling Production Legal for shows on NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, USA, Universal Kids and the internal NBCUniversal studios. Kara was named Head, Production Legal for USA, Syfy and Universal Cable Productions studio in 2014. Kara joined a new NBCU Law Department team in 2016 called Content & Production Risk, handling the most complex and high-risk matters relating to content and physical production across the NBCU entertainment portfolio.
In 2017, Kara moved to the NBCUniversal Advertising & Marketing Legal team, providing legal advice and handling contracts related to the advertising and marketing of all entertainment content, brands and events for NBCUniversal Entertainment TV & Streaming (Peacock). In this role, Kara led the marketing production legal team and worked on the production of all marketing content, tentpole events like BravoCon, custom content with advertisers and talent, promotions (contests and sweepstakes), and developed her expertise of the review of advertising and marketing materials for copyright, trademark, defamation, right of publicity, guild considerations, and regulatory compliance, including with laws related to consumer protection, claim substantiation, and the FTC Endorsement Guides.
Kara was proud to hold a leadership position on the NBCUniversal Law Department Community Engagement Committee, providing pro bono legal services to various nonprofits and increasing community engagement participation within the Law Department. Kara also worked closely with the NBCU Corporate Social Responsibility team and the NBCUniversal Creative Impact Lab, helping to create marketing assets for nonprofits.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Kara worked at Davis & Gilbert LLP in New York, with a focus on advertising and marketing law, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, with a focus on intellectual property and advertising transactional and litigation matters.
Kara received her J.D. degree from New York University School of Law, and her B.A. with Honors from Dartmouth College.
Kara lives in Florida with her husband, daughter, son and goldendoodle. She is admitted to practice law in New York, Florida and Georgia. In 2024, she joined the Faculty of the University of Miami School of Law as an Adjunct Professor teaching Entertainment Law Transactions.