Though the spotlight will be on the 10,500 athletes during the opening and closing ceremonies of the upcoming Paris Olympics, Fordham Law graduate Aude Sainte-Rose LL.M. ’22 is working behind the scenes to ensure the events are a success.
“I’m the only legal person within the artistic team, which is huge [because]there are a lot of rules and technicalities inside and outside the International Olympic Committee (IOC),” said Sainte-Rose, who is serving as project manager for legal and artistic coordination of the Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
In this position, she is working closely with choreographers, musicians, and costume designers in her role, ensuring that the creative visions for all four ceremonies “are not only breathtaking but legally protected.” She added, “I often feel a bit like an agent-lawyer between the artistic team and the IOC, defending the interest of the team and our participating artists.”
Sainte-Rose, a native of France, never expected her experience in corporate and intellectual property (IP) law would lead her to an organization as widely known as the Olympics when she chose to pursue a legal career abroad eight years ago. After pursuing an LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law at Fordham and graduating in 2022, she worked as a junior associate at Hand Baldachin & Associates in New York City.
“My specialty was IP, but I wanted to focus on the fashion industry coming into Fordham,” said Sainte-Rose. “Having the opportunity to learn under Susan Scafidi, be a part of the Fashion Law Institute and Fashion Law Society, and join the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal were so beneficial to me. I really improved my public speaking skills in English, in class [as well as]my writing skills in English, thanks to the journal.”
In 2023, she returned home to France and was hired to be on the Paris 2024 Committee as the project manager for legal and artistic coordination of the Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
“What I liked about the role was that I would be surrounded by artistic directors, choreographers, fashion designers, stage designers—everything you can imagine, creatively,” Sainte-Rose said. “And the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee was looking for someone with legal expertise in IP, because IP law is used so much in the ceremonies [to address issues such as]can we use that song? What are the copyrights and is there infringement? What are the concerns? The Organising Committee really wanted someone who could wear the two hats, and I couldn’t say no to the opportunity.”
The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics will feature a flotilla of nearly 90 boats carrying athletes down the River Seine to the Eiffel Tower. (Photo: Courtesy of Aude Sainte-Rose LL.M. ’22)
Though spectators only see the Games once every two years, preparing for them is an all-consuming job, with some working as long as six years behind the scenes and at the drawing table.
“I’ve been here less than a year, but I have been given the chance to have a complete global vision, because I’m working on all four ceremonies,” Sainte-Rose said. “Preparing for the Olympic Opening Ceremony has been taking a lot of time, of course, but we obviously have a vision for the remaining three [ceremonies]and we know what will happen.”
While she can’t spoil too much of what will happen at this year’s Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Sainte-Rose assures that it will be one for the books, with expectations higher than ever. Paris and France will create history by hosting the country’s first-ever summer Paralympic Games as well as reinventing the Opening Ceremonies by taking them out of the stadium and placing them at the heart of the city.
“We don’t have a real stage for the Opening Ceremony because our stage is the River Seine—and one tricky thing is the tides, that the river can go up and down depending on the weather,” Sainte-Rose said. “We have back-up plans in place because there are so many other external factors to consider when putting on a global event like this.”
She added, “It’s been an honor to work in my home country and my home city, and it’s crazy to imagine that 1.5 billion people—and double that when you count social media—will be watching what I’ve been working on for nearly a year.”
The Olympics kick off on July 26 and will conclude on August 11, bringing to a close more than two weeks of sporting feats and festivities. The Paralympics, which will take place between August 28 and September 8, will bring together as many as 4,400 athletes from around the world.
