“My experience working with Mintz Levin has been tremendous. Guitars Not Guns can move forward now that we know our trademark is protected. It's fantastic.”
Gregg Hammond
President
Guitars Not Guns – National Capital Area
Six String Saves At-Risk Youth
"Sara" did not speak to anyone since coming to a therapeutic day school for at-risk kids in Washington, DC. But when Sara started taking guitar lessons with Gregg Hammond, president of the DC chapter of Guitars Not Guns and a popular guitar teacher in the area, she started talking to Gregg. "Miraculous," is how the school therapists described it, and in fact, they said all the students in Gregg's guitar class were doing better in school and doing their homework.
The music lessons Gregg and other volunteer music teachers from Guitars Not Guns bring to afterschool programs that serve at-risk youth in the DC area generate many stories like this: kids gain self-esteem, learn how to express themselves through music, and begin to live better lives, attending school and staying out of trouble. What's more, the kids get to perform on stage, and those who stick with their lessons get to keep their guitars.
About 10 years ago, Gregg was jumped by a gang of kids, and it happened a second time a couple of years later. Then he was held up at gunpoint, again, by troubled kids. He managed to escape these incidents, but they got him thinking about how he could help. "I want to be part of the solution," he says. "Guitars Not Guns fuses my love of music and mentoring youth."
Guitars Not Guns is a national nonprofit with 19 chapters in 12 states that has been in operation for 15 years. Gregg started the DC chapter in 2008.
"A few years ago, I decided to get my Eric Clapton on, and I started to take lessons from Gregg," says Mintz Levin attorney David Barmak, now vice president of the DC chapter. Through those lessons David also learned about Guitars Not Guns and about some branding issues it was having with a similar nonprofit in the area.
Mintz Levin began advising the DC chapter on the use of its content, website, and social media as well as on compliance with Maryland, Virginia, and DC laws. Led by David, the Mintz Levin team included attorneys Susan Weller, Andrew Skale, and Thomas Boisvert, who has since left the firm. Paralegal Jacobo Dib and project analyst Katherine Fox also assisted. The team also trademarked the Guitars Not Guns name for the national organization.
For Guitars Not Guns, which is all volunteer run, its name and reputation are key to getting the support it needs to buy guitars, picks, straps, strings, and paper fliers for concerts. "Guitars Not Guns is doing very good things on a relatively small scale," says David. "It's as grass roots as it gets."