Nickole,

Thanks for the great questions. There are a number of things you can do as a law student to set yourself up for a career in entertainment law. Ultimately, stay focused and never give up – trying to get your foot in the door is challenging, and you will hear the word “no” often. Sometimes you might not hear anything, as lawyers and entertainment executives just won’t respond because they are too busy or too cool! Focus on developing relationships (not just contacts). Know your industry. Be persistent. Be an excellent lawyer.

Okay, now for some real advice:

1. Take intellectual property and business law classes. No matter whether you are the “deal maker” or the corporate attorney working for an entertainment/media company, you need to know your law and be good at lawyering. Load up on copyright, trademark, business entity law, agency law, securities, and contract drafting courses. Read law review articles to develop an advanced understanding of the subject matter. Read books – two of the most cited are “All You Need To Know About The Music Business” by Donald Passman and “Music, Money, and Success” by the Brabec brothers.
2. Attend the ABA Entertainment and Sports Law Forum (and state/local bar events). These events introduce you to many of the lawyers and music professionals that work within the entertainment industries. You will also learn about current issues. Meet people, follow-up (with a hand-written card, not an e-mail).
3. Join NARAS. The Grammy organization offers great outlets for musicians and music executives/lawyers. There are a number of regional chapters, including one in Chicago – http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Chapters/Chicago/. They also offer a law writing initiative which is a great way to make a name for yourself.
4. Expect to work for free! Since you have two summers during law school, plan to spend your first summer at a music company. I don’t think there are many paid positions these days for an intern, but the experience and contacts will be invaluable. If you can afford to live in Los Angeles or New York for the summer, prepare a list of 20 or so companies you would like to work for and then call, write, call, write, repeat until someone “hires” you for the summer. You can also reach out to entertainment law firms to see if an attorney will take you under his/her wing for the summer.*
5. Publish an article. As you get closer to your third year in law school, start writing articles about areas of entertainment law that interest you. This not only builds credibility, but also gets your name out there and demonstrates your determination to work in the field.
6. Start a law school conference. I did! What better way to make in roads than through the leverage of your institution and the providing of a platform for attorneys (and music folk) to talk about themselves and current issues. I guarantee you will increase your response rate ten-fold if you call an attorney to ask if they would like to speak at your conference. Offer to pay for transport and accommodations (if they are coming from out of town) and they will start calling you! By the way, count me in! If you pull off your event successfully, the goodwill established from it will go a long way.

If you want to be an artist representative, commit yourself to it. Though I would advise you to not limit yourself to independent artists (if they can barely make a living, do you think they are going to be able to compensate you?). My path is still being written. I attended the University of Florida College of Law – it is based in Gainesville (not exactly the hub of music and business). In my first summer, I was hired by a major law firm (with one of the best corporate entertainment law practices in the country, though I was at an office that didn’t have an entertainment practice group). The corporate lifestyle was just not for me. When I returned to law school, I set out with a grand plan to create a first-of-its-kind event for any law school in the nation – Music Law Conference was born. An event spanning two days, 30 panelists, a music expo, and two nights of band showcases throughout downtown. I also did a lot of the things mentioned above.

After graduating in 2002, I moved up to New York City. I was determined to be an entertainment lawyer. I went to lots of networking events – young entertainment professionals, law school CLE events, Copyright Society. I published articles. I continued to educate myself on current issues in the industry. Slowly, very slowly, I began representing clients (practically for free).

Then, two years ago I partnered up with David Beame, a friend from Florida and fellow entertainment attorney. We are still in the beginning stages of developing a firm, but have been fortunate to represent clients with lots of talent. Our firm has negotiated 4 major label record deals in the past 6 months. We’ve also been able to expand our more “law-focused” areas of practice too, such as media start-ups and comprehensive intellectual property representation.

Yet, we don’t rest on our laurels. We can’t…

*It is also important to understand that many entertainment lawyers first started out as corporate attorneys at major law firms, working on cases not even remotely close to entertainment. If you can get a summer associate position with a major law firm, you should strongly consider this as a viable direction to ultimately reach a full time practice in entertainment law. The author of this blog posting, however, did not heed his own advice!