A Crash Course on Becoming an Entertainment Lawyer

First of all, welcome to the entertainment law subsection of Entertainment Agent Blog. Hopefully we’ll have a good run…

So you want to be an entertainment lawyer? The only problem is you don’t really know what an entertainment lawyer does. Is one a lawyer? An agent? Both?

Although the answer is generally somewhere in the middle, a traditional entertainment lawyer attends to a client’s current business (potentially including personal affairs) whereas a traditional agent works to get that client more business. But this doesn’t mean that the entertainment lawyer’s job is one-dimensional.

The same entertainment lawyer might have a wide range of clientele. From large companies (i.e. major studios, recording companies, production companies) to new-comer individuals (i.e. first time musicians, authors, screenwriters), a good entertainment lawyer is qualified to attend to a variety of clients and subject areas. If we extend the definition of “entertainment lawyer” to “any lawyer who represents entertainers,” the job looks a lot like a traditional attorney. Here are some examples of what an entertainment lawyer might work on:

• Saving your client’s house from foreclosure
• Protecting the content of your client’s screenplay
• Rescuing your client from a drug conviction
• Defending your client’s contract in a multi-million dollar breach of contract dispute with a former publicist and general manager
• Protecting your client’s image from being used for commercial gain without your client’s consent (a/k/a right of publicity)
• Mitigating a studio’s liability when a car stunt gone bad injures pedestrians
• Settling a class action lawsuit against angry fans when your client-rock band decides to cancel a scheduled show

And these are just a few examples pulled from recent headlines…

Theoretically, these responsibilities could all be for the same client. More likely, the entertainment lawyer’s practice is general enough to cover a plethora of clients, in which the lawyer attends to those clients’ various entertainment and non-entertainment related needs. For example, you might have experience with tax or real estate law and help your client with those needs as well. Next thing you know you’re the next Tom Hagen (consigliere for the Godfather), but I digress…

For some lawyers, it’s worthwhile to simply keep one or two entertainment clients hanging around in order to maintain contacts with the industry. This way, if you want to go full-fledged into the industry, you always have a foot in the door. Of course, the law is the law, so whether you’re working on a copyright issue for a new writer’s first screenplay or for a manufacturer’s trolling motor owner’s manual, the analysis is not terribly different. Thus, experience in one area of law that overlaps typical entertainment law issues (say, intellectual property or contract law) can simultaneously improve your entertainment law resume. This means you shouldn’t turn down a client because he/she is a professional wrestler and you consider wrestling to be a “sport” and not “entertainment.” This also means that an attorney practicing copyright law for thirty years who has never had an entertainment industry client may be more sought out by a record company than a top-of-the-class law school grad who concentrated in entertainment law.

For other lawyers (especially those with more experience and good contacts), it’s worthwhile to pursue a small niche market (say, trademarking studio logos or drafting musician contracts) and limit your practice exclusively to the entertainment industry. This way you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you get a client who is asking you to work on something you have never seen (trust me, I don’t know and likely will never know anything about foreclosures or bankruptcy law). While you may be reluctant to refer the work to a more experienced specialist, it takes time to learn new things. After all, “entertainment law” is merely a caption, not a set boundary of law. Thus, a one-dimensional, specialized practice allows for higher level servicing with exponentially less research headaches. It has also means you can charge at a higher rate. The downside is that you see similar issues over and over and over again. You also limit your potential drawing pool for an income stream.

Of course, if you’re bent on pursuing entertainment law, you may find another item handy: a law degree. While there are a growing number of law schools teaching one or two entertainment law classes (see: Marquette University Law School or Seattle University Law School), here’s an unofficial list of the most reputable law schools offering entertainment law classes. Not surprisingly, most of these schools hover around the entertainment capitals known as New York and Los Angeles:

New York-area schools:

• New York University School of Law (NYU)
• Yeshiva University (Cardozo School of Law)
• Columbia Law School

Los Angeles-area schools:

• University of Southern California Gould Law School (USC)
• University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (UCLA)
• Loyola Law School of Los Angeles
• Pepperdine University School of Law
• Southwestern Law School

Other locations:

• Stanford Law School (Stanford, CA)
• Tulane University Law School (New Orleans, LA)
• Vanderbilt University Law School (Nashville, TN)
• Duke University Law School (Durham, NC)
• University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
• University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL)

As stated, the key is to focus on subjects that overlap the entertainment law industry, and not necessarily hone in on “entertainment law” programs. While law schools with entertainment law programs may provide easier access to entertainment law/agent companies, it’s tough to beat good grades at a reputable law school. Thus, an alternate approach is to get into the best law school you can get into and join an entertainment law society. Here’s another unofficial list:

• Harvard Law School Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law
• Entertainment Arts and Sports Law Society of Columbia Law School
• Loyola Law School’s Entertainment and Sports Law Society
• University of Tennessee Sports and Entertainment Law Society
• Ohio State University Sports and Entertainment Law Association
• Villanova Sports & Entertainment Law Society
• Hofstra University School of Law Sports & Entertainment Law Society
• Washington University (St. Louis) Sports & Entertainment Law Society
• GSU College of Law Sports & Entertainment Law Society
• University of Oregon Sports & Entertainment Law Forum
• Stanford Entertainment and Sports Law Association
• University of Miami Sports & Entertainment Law Society

If you’re serious about attending law school, I recommend that you give that program a call (or better yet a visit) and talk to a professor. Professors don’t get a commission if you join their law school, so they’re not going to try to sell you anything you don’t want. Ask them about the program, internship opportunities, course selection, distinguished professors, etc. Also, go on a list serv and try to find a local entertainment lawyer. In my experience, established lawyers are overwhelmingly willing to speak with potential lawyers.

While I don’t think there’s a magical deadline for when you should start to seriously pursue this industry (Senior year of college? High school? 2L year of law school? Post-retirement?), be sure to do your homework so you know exactly what you’re getting into. Good luck.