LIVERPOOL-BASED law firm Hill Dickinson and city comic John Bishop have teamed up and gone to the Edinburgh Festival to encourage performers to take legal advice.
Hill Dickinson is sponsoring John's show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, called John Bishop: Cultural Ambassador, and will also be his legal adviser.
In return, he is helping the lawyers highlight legal pitfalls facing budding performers as part of their "Get Protected" campaign.
John told LDP Legal: "Often, young performers, whether comedians, actors or writers, just want to sign a contract with an agent so they can do the job they love, and legal protection is the last thing on their mind.
"They won't ask an independent adviser to check over the contract and end up signing away much more than they should - it's a story I have heard over and over again."
John added that all performers should "remember why you are doing what you are doing, and love it for what it is. And don't be afraid to ask questions and view your career like any other job by putting personal goals in place".
Hill Dickinson are sponsoring the Pleasance Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the fourth year in a row. Its media specialists will be running free media law surgeries for comics, actors and performers who want to learn more about protecting ideas and performances.
Samantha Lansbury, of Hill Dickinson's media team, said: "Many performers do not realise that their shows are at risk if they do not seek proper legal protection.
"We are running one-to-one surgeries to offer sound legal advice regarding copyrights for format ideas, broad-casts, performance and management.
"Our work with John will further raise our profile and we hope it will be of interest to other performers."