GANDHAR SAVUR • MANAGING ATTORNEY

Gandhar Savur (pronounced GONN-dar Sa-VOOR) represents artists, executives and companies within the music industry on all types of matters including transactional entertainment, corporate, intellectual property, and contract law. In addition, he advises entrepreneurs, partners, shareholders, and investors on the creation of new companies and business ventures within the music industry. Having spent the majority of his career in New York City, Gandhar currently practices out of Westchester NY, and divides his time between New York and Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

 Gandhar’s roster of clients includes managers, producers, publicists, and record executives, as well as entities in all areas of music, such as record labels, publishers, and tv/film licensing companies. Most of all though, Gandhar takes great pride in representing bands and songwriters, and considers himself very lucky to represent a roster of amazing artists including BUILT TO SPILL, CIGARETTES AFTER SEX, JR JR, NATION OF LANGUAGE, THE GENERATIONALS, JEFF ROSENSTOCK, HELMET, LUNA LI, THE RAPTURE, JASON DERULO, DAVID BARON, JUNE MCDOOM, MISS GRIT, ROSIE DARLING, RYE COALITION, MEWITHOUTYOU, SIMONE FELICE, THE RENTALS, A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, DEATH LENS, KING KHAN, and THE ANTLERS, amongst others.  Gandhar began his career in the licensing department of Matador Records, and in addition to his private practice, also currently serves as general counsel for a small group of music related companies, including television and film licensing company Bank Robber Music, music publishing company Rough Trade Publishing, custom music house Academy Fight Songs, and independent record label Ernest Jenning Record Co (he is also a partner of all four companies). 

 Prior to founding his music practice, Gandhar was the managing partner of Savur Threadgold LLP, a firm that, at its peak, had over ten attorneys, and offices within NYC, Nashville, LA and Miami.  In his capacity as managing partner, Gandhar oversaw the delivery of work product and managed the departments of music, film, new media, litigation, corporate ventures, and intellectual property. After 10 years of managing lawyers, Gandhar is extremely thankful to now have his own practice, working primarily in music. However, a decade of managing a broad services law firm has given Gandhar a wealth of experience that is not typical of your average music lawyer; and that experience is leveraged by his existing clients on a daily basis.

 Gandhar studied business at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, graduating in 2000 and earned his J.D. from St. John’s School of Law in 2005, where he was the President of the Entertainment Law Society and the Vice President of the Intellectual Property Society. He is a member of the New York and Florida bar associations, enjoys cooking, eating and drinking, surfing, soccer, tennis, and punk rock music (when he is not busy shuffling his two sons around town in the family mini-van), and is a devoted supporter of Arsenal Football Club.  He is also a songwriter and plays in numerous bands and musical projects himself, none of which have any commercial success whatsoever. Thankfully, he can enjoy the many successes of his amazing clients.

 Gandhar was named a 2024 Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers. In the August 9, 2014 issue of Billboard Magazine, Gandhar was named among the Top 50 Go-To Lawyers in the Music Business. 

SOMMER BLACKMAN • ASSOCIATE Attorney

Sommer (pronounced just like the season) Blackman is admitted to practice law in New York and Ontario, Canada. 

Before joining Savur Law, Sommer worked for entertainment and business law firms, served as in-house legal counsel to a music production company, and managed her own law firm, Blackman Law, where she represented recording artists, songwriters, record labels, producers, authors, and influencers. Sommer is ecstatic to now merge her practice into Savur Law and to be directly supporting the firm’s clients on transactional music law matters. 

Sommer grew up deeply immersed in music. She is a classically trained pianist; played the alto and tenor saxophones for 7 years; and can also play the steelpan. She also enjoys educating the musician community about their intellectual property rights. She has led several workshops on the basics of copyright and trademark law. In 2019, Sommer developed a free workshop series called ‘Creative Rights’, where intellectual property and entertainment lawyers impart their knowledge on the legal aspects of being a creative; and creatives share their experiences of working in the industry.

Sommer received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, and obtained an LLB from Cardiff University School of Law & Politics.  She subsequently received an LLM in intellectual property law from the University of New Hampshire Law School, where she was awarded the Intellectual Property Award. 

JULIA BUCHHEIM • DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS

Julia specializes in synchronization licensing (with expertise in advertising, branded content and Web3), music publishing, and other music and entertainment related matters. She also handles aspects of the day-to-day operations and business affairs for the firm. 

Previously, Julia was the VP Global Sync Licensing at Downtown Music Services, managing the company’s global synchronization licensing process for the Downtown Music Services catalog as well as for other Downtown Music Holdings companies such as CDBaby, Songtrust and Fuga. Prior to assuming her role at Downtown, Julia was VP of Business Affairs and Licensing at Rough Trade Publishing + Bank Robber Music, where she oversaw administration and operations matters as well as leading the synchronization licensing department. Julia began her career in sync licensing and music publishing at ABKCO Music and Records. She is a graduate of NYU’s undergraduate music business program.

Julia has also served as a board member of the New York chapter of the AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers) from 2019-2022, during which time she established their Young Professionals Committee and mentorship programs. She has served as a mentor, panelist, and speaker for various conferences and panels.