Katherine de Vos Devine

Sophisticated protection. No burned bridges.

Katherine de Vos Devine is an intellectual property attorney and founder of Implement Legal, a boutique law firm serving creative businesses. She specializes in copyright, trademark, and business acquisitions for galleries, production companies, agencies, and creative businesses navigating complex IP challenges.

Katherine holds a J.D. and Ph.D. in Art History from Duke University, where her dissertation examined appropriation art and fair use doctrine from the 1990s through 2010s. Before practicing law full-time, she led arts organizations and cultural institutions. That operational experience informs her legal practice: she understands that creative professionals thrive in networks of recurring relationships that sustain their work.

She practices what she calls "relational law," protecting both individual rights and the collaborative relationships creative work depends on. This approach recognizes that aggressive legal tactics can damage the professional networks creative businesses operate within.

Katherine serves on the College Art Association's Committee on Intellectual Property and writes Protect Your Magic, a newsletter on the history of copyright and the cultural commons. Her work connects historical enclosure movements to contemporary creative protection, with particular focus on how fair use doctrine has been weaponized by AI companies that extract from shared creative resources.

Outside the office, Katherine practices hot yoga, cooks elaborate meals, and reads voraciously.