Working as an entertainment lawyer may appear glamorous but it's hard work.
An entertainment lawyer's daily work--like that of most other lawyers--involves research, writing motions and court dates. There are occasional perks like premieres and attending high-profile events but they are not the norm, according to BCG Attorney Research. What makes the entertainment lawyer's job more interesting is the clientele. The working contract of a celebrity or the intellectual property of a top TV show adds appeal to the job.
Career Choice
Any law student who specializes in entertainment law or takes classes in contracts, copyrights and patent law can be an entertainment lawyer, Mark Litwak's Entertainment Law Resources reports. Mid-level lawyers with work experience in patents and copyrights and with high-profile business clients and entertainment industry connections can choose to specialize as entertainment lawyers, too.
Clients
Some law firms specialize in representing celebrity talents, while others specialize in representing management companies, such as heads of CBS, MTV and Warner Bros., according to BCG Attorney Research. Smaller law firms would handle first-time musicians, beginning authors or even Elvis or Michael Jackson impersonators, among others.
Work
The areas entertainment law covers include: contracts, depositions, research, business litigation, writing briefs, filing motions, advising clients regarding their business, handling intellectual property, copyright, licensing, employment, taxation, securities, immigration practice and international issues.
Practice
Entertainment legal work is mostly centered in New York (theater), Los Angeles (film) and Nashville (music). There is also legal work for multimedia in Seattle and Silicon Valley, Mark Litwak's Entertainment Law Resources reports. Entertainment lawyers usually aspire to work in-house with major entertainment companies. They may also work with legal entertainment firms, run company partnerships or work alone.
Benefits
Entertainment law operates in a high-profile environment with clients and cases that are newsworthy. It is a good dinner conversation source. Although it is highly competitive and not everyone succeeds at it, many find it worthy of the long hours and effort put into it, according to BCG Attorney Research.
Getting In
A top law school (Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, Cornell, UC Berkeley, USC, NYU, University of Michigan, UCLA, Columbia) is a good head start and is more beneficial than going to a law school with a specialized entertainment law course, according to the Law Girl website. Getting good grades, writing for a law journal (preferably "Law Review" or "Moot Court"), summer field-related jobs like copyright litigation or a clerkship with a judge also helps. One should also build contacts with entertainment industry people, read trade publications ("Billboard," "Variety"), join online industry mailing lists and attend networking groups.
Success
Networking with the right people is crucial. Good contacts can give you inside information about the latest unadvertised opportunities in this fast-changing industry. Networking is beneficial both in the short and long term in boosting one's reputation, enhancing visibility and creating business. If you can bring business to the firm you work for, you become more valuable to it, BCG Attorney Research reports.
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