KAYA LEGAL
Embedded Legal Advisory · Business & Legal Affairs

We give media, content, and
technology companies an embedded legal team
with GC-level judgment, without the full-time headcount.

We serve as the single point of legal accountability inside growth-stage and established media and technology organizations alike, from early-stage launches to companies managing a downturn or a turnaround. We're embedded in the business, not bolted onto it, and we bring in specialist outside counsel on your behalf whenever a matter calls for it.

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You work directly with Ezgi Kaya, supported when needed by a curated network of specialist counsel. We flag early when a matter calls for that outside expertise, then manage the relationship on your behalf.

Who you're working with

Meet Ezgi

Ezgi Kaya
Founder, Kaya Legal PLLC

Ezgi founded Kaya Legal after almost two decades in the law, including more than a decade in-house building legal functions and infrastructure at media and technology companies, and ultimately running legal as General Counsel at BDG Media, where she also served as EVP, Legal Affairs and Head of Business Development. She started her practice to give companies that same senior, embedded judgment on a fractional basis, without the overhead of a full-time hire.

She built her judgment across in-house roles at Amazon, Getty Images, and ALM Media. She started her career as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell and is admitted to practice in New York.

  • Former EVP, Legal Affairs, General Counsel & Head of Business Development, BDG Media
  • In-house legal leadership at Amazon, Getty Images, and ALM Media
  • Started her career as a corporate attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell
  • Admitted to practice in New York
  • Board member, National Fabry Disease Foundation
Scope

What we do

Embedded legal and business affairs leadership for media, content, and consumer technology companies navigating growth, transition, or heightened risk.

§01
Editorial & Media Law
Copyright, fair use, DMCA response, and pre-publication risk review. We read copy before it runs, not after it's a problem.
§02
Licensing, IP & Brand Partnerships
Content licenses, brand collaborations, and partnership agreements structured to hold up under real usage, not just in the redline.
§03
Commercial Contracting & Business Development
The full stack of agreements a digital media or technology company runs on, including vendor, production, technology, and venue deals across the US and UK, plus hands-on experience sourcing, structuring, and closing business development deals, not just papering them after the fact.
§04
Product Counsel
In the room with product and engineering early enough to catch risks and delays before they become blockers, not after. Representative product work spans consumer-facing platforms, including helping build a user-generated shoppable livestreaming app, AI chatbots and assistants, and first-party and UGC video programming. For deep privacy or AI regulatory questions, we work alongside specialized privacy and AI counsel rather than guessing at it.
§05
Strategic Advisory to Leadership
Direct counsel to executive teams on the calls that don't have a clean template: pre-litigation strategy, risk assessment, crisis response, and the judgment questions where legal, business, and reputational risk all collide.
§06
Outside Counsel Management
Sourcing, scoping, and overseeing specialist firms so you get expert coverage without managing five separate relationships yourself.
§07
Legal Infrastructure
Templates, contracting frameworks, and outside counsel guidelines, built to streamline legal processes and scale as the company grows: the systems that turn legal into a repeatable function, not a bottleneck.
§08
Employment, Contractor & Workforce Arrangements
Policies, separations, and structuring how a team is built out, whether through employees, contractors, or a mix, done to protect the company and treat people fairly along the way.
§09
Corporate Governance
Board formation and onboarding, equity documentation, bylaws: the infrastructure that lets a growing company actually govern itself.
Model

How we work

Embedded, not outsourced

We work inside the business

We show up in leadership conversations, not just contract threads, because good legal judgment requires knowing the business, not just the document in front of you.

Accountability

One point of contact

You have a single person who owns the legal picture end to end, not a rotating cast of associates you have to re-brief every time.

Coverage

A bench, not a black box

When a matter needs deep specialist expertise outside our lane, we bring in a vetted partner and stay the point of contact throughout, so nothing falls through a seam.

Discipline

Honest about scope

We take on what falls squarely within our expertise. Naming what's outside that scope, early, is part of the job, not a gap to paper over.

Leverage

AI-enabled, not AI-replaced

We use AI tools to move faster and keep costs down, then reinvest that time in building playbooks and processes customized to how your team actually works, so recurring, repeatable matters can be handled in-house without waiting on outside counsel for every one.

Perspective

A thought partner, not just a signer-off

We track where the law and the technology are heading, from AI regulation to platform liability to IP, and bring that point of view to leadership before it's a live problem, not just an answer when asked.

Structure

Ways to work together

The right structure depends on where you are, not a fixed package. Three common shapes this takes:

Fit

Who we're built for

  • Digital media, publishing, and content companies with real editorial or creative output
  • Technology companies with a product, platform, or UGC dimension, where legal needs a seat in those decisions, not just back-office sign-off
  • Growth-stage companies that need GC-level judgment before they need GC-level headcount, and established companies managing a downturn, turnaround, or other structural transition
  • Teams navigating a launch, a build-out, or a structural inflection point where legal needs to move at the speed of the business
What we don't do: we're not deal counsel for matters that call for deep, specialized expertise outside our lane. Some examples: M&A, securities offerings, and equity issuances; complex litigation; heavy benefits and ERISA mandates; nonprofit-specific regulatory work; and industry-specific regulatory compliance such as healthcare or specialized privacy regulation. This isn't an exhaustive list. Whenever a matter needs expertise beyond what we've built our judgment in, we identify the right specialized firm and stay the coordinator, not a bystander.

Where we do help: getting the business ready for that outside counsel. We've led internal readiness for financings and refinancings in-house, organizing diligence, coordinating stakeholders, and managing the process end to end, so the deal team can move fast once they're engaged.
We think the best legal advice reads like good editing: clear, specific, and in service of the thing you're actually trying to make.

Not sure where to start? Send a quick brief and we'll get back to you within one business day.

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Get in touch

ezgi@kayalegal.com

Based in

Tribeca, New York City

Contacting Kaya Legal PLLC does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please don't send confidential information until an engagement is confirmed.