Lawyers...I have one. I don't like it. And in my opinion they don't know shit about the adult industry. I've spoken with a lot of them over they years...including a couple of the "famous" ones who appear on t.v. shows "defending" the porn industry. And not one of them has ever given me the slightest indication that they really know how our shit works. Matter of fact the majority of my conversations with them are always ME explaining stuff to THEM.
They have been very good at sounding alarms constantly though. Sometimes they've been right. Most times not.
I keep one on retainer. He's pretty much useless. He's supposed to be a specialist in adult internet law. The other day I told him about this site...he knew nothing of it. Matter of fact he's still a little fuzzy on how affiliate programs work and how I can make money with a free site. LOL!
Anyway, my advice is to keep an attorney on retainer for the "Oh Shit" scenario. And other than that just use common sense. As for a model release...They are all pretty much the same. If you want to hire a lawyer who can never know as much about your business as you do to write an "ironclad" one...go ahead. And then I'd take that one from your lawyer and go grab several different ones from other companies and compare them and add the things that your lawyer missed. And no...nobody can sue you for "stealing" a freakin' model release...well, I guess if McDonald's can get sued for their coffee being too hot then maybe somebody would try that shit too. But they are all pretty much the same thing...every one I've seen or signed since 1995 were all saying the same thing...a few words added here and there to comply with changing tweaks to the law. But it's still the same thing. And since they all have to say the same things...they are all very much identical. Anyway, that's just my one and half cents from my experiences. I'm sure others have different ones.