Akshay Nelakurti
Akshay Nelakurti is an entertainment and media associate at Klaris Law. He advises clients across the entertainment industry on production legal matters, commercial transactions and promotions, copyright and fair use, licensing and content clearance, and first amendment. He represents production companies, game studios (independent and large), news media and publishing companies, television networks, independent filmmakers and authors. He also works on prepublication review of podcasts, documentaries and unscripted shows, news media and book manuscripts.
Prior to joining Klaris, Akshay was the legal fellow at the Copyright Alliance, where he supported the organization’s policy initiatives and creator education efforts. Before that, he was a law clerk at Saadeh P.C., a boutique entertainment firm where he worked with independent filmmakers and conducted copyright fair use reviews for films. As a law student, he worked in Georgetown Law’s Social Enterprise and Nonprofit Law Clinic and interned at the Public Defender Service of DC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Akshay has been an avid gamer for most of his life and loves exploring narrative-driven games. Passionate about using his legal skills to help creators bring their visions to life, Akshay had his sights set on the entertainment industry early on. He was actively involved with the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance (GEMALaw) throughout his time in law school, serving as Co-President in his final year. He also wrote his research paper on the protection of fictional film and TV characters through copyright and trademark law.
Akshay spends his down time now playing video games, cooking, exploring the sights around DC, and listening to the Shang-Chi soundtrack on repeat.
He has a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.E. from B.M.S. College of Engineering in his hometown of Bangalore, India.
Admissions: California (2022)