What do Chrissy Teigen, Joe Jonas, and a murder house have in common? They all star in shows on the new streaming service Quibi.
Quibi, which stands for “quick bites,” is just that: high-quality short-form content in which episodes are around 10 minutes each.
Behind every entertainment company is a crew of hardworking people, like Robert Kelly, the General Counsel of Quibi.
Kelly and the rest of the Legal Department handle matters such as privacy, patents, trademarks, employment, marketing, litigation, and many others, according to Kelly.
“On a day-to-day basis, I provide advice to people throughout the organization and assist them in making decisions about how best to comply with the various laws that apply to our business,” Kelly said.
Kelly didn’t always work for Quibi, which only launched in April 2020. After graduating from Yale Law School, he worked at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a large law firm in Los Angeles.
“I enjoyed my time working at the law firm, but ultimately I knew I wanted to work for a company, where I could be closer to the decision making process and more involved on a day-to-day basis,” Kelly said.
His experience at the firm gave him the necessary skills to join the legal team at DreamWorks Animation. Once DreamWorks was sold, Kelly left to work on a small startup: Quibi.
“I was the second employee at Quibi, after our CEO, Meg Whitman,” Kelly said. “Over the course of the last two years, I have participated in building Quibi, first by raising money to fund the company and then by building and eventually launching the service.”
Quibi is no longer a small startup. The company reported that it had 1.7 million downloads in its release week alone.
The platform currently has 44 shows available to stream, most of which are original content. Examples include a cooking competition, sports documentary, scripted comedies and dramas, and game shows galore, starring celebrities like Idris Elba, Anna Kendrick, LeBron James, Will Forte, and Sophie Turner.
Kelly’s favorite thing about his job is the variety of work he does. “I consider myself an intellectually curious person and I find the ability to learn new areas of the law and gain experience in them to be very rewarding,” he said.
When asked if he had any advice for hopeful lawyers, Kelly advised they be certain it’s the right career path since law school requires three years of intensive and often competitive work.
“For law students who are interested in a career like mine, I recommend that they start working at a large law firm like I did,” Kelly said. “That is usually the best way to gain the skills necessary to be a successful in-house lawyer.”