Katherine Surprenant
Katherine Surprenant is a strategic, business-savvy attorney, leading the commercial transactional practice at Klaris with expertise in complex commercial agreements, digital marketing, licensing, media content rights, technology transactions, regulatory compliance, and data privacy (CIPP/US-certified).
Katherine has represented media and marketing companies in all aspects of content and brand acquisitions and licensing, custom publishing arrangements, celebrity partnerships, cross-platform advertising and marketing initiatives, and advertising technology relationships. She has extensive experience in brand, content and product licensing, video production and distribution arrangements, talent and influencer agreements, live event production, data analytics agreements, customer relationship management programs and Web site development agreements. She counsels on compliance matters regarding native advertising, social media, mobile marketing and promotions, as well as traditional media law issues, including libel, rights of privacy and publicity, copyright, and trademark.
Prior to joining Klaris, Katherine was General Counsel, National Media & Marketing, for Meredith Corporation, supervising the legal work for numerous magazine titles and digital brands, including Martha Stewart Living, Parents, Rachael Ray Every Day, and Shape, and providing legal support for MXM, a content-led marketing agency. Previously, she was the Deputy General Counsel for Gruner + Jahr Publishing. She started her career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, after clerking for the Hon. R. Lanier Anderson, III, on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a graduate of Cornell Law School, where she was an editor of the Cornell Law Review, and received a BA from Stanford University, with Honors in Pre-Medical Studies/Humanities.
Katherine is co-chair of the Advertising and Commercial Speech Committee of the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC). She also served as co-chair of the MLRC’s Internet Law Committee and chair of the New Media Section of the Association of Magazine Media, Legal Affairs Committee, and is a member of the Media Law Committee of the New York State Bar Association. She taught Internet and Publishing Law at the NYU School of Professional Studies and has spoken frequently on digital media, advertising, promotions, and right of publicity issues. She is admitted to practice in New York.