Your Guide To a Career as an Entertainment Lawyer
Are you looking for a fun and rewarding career in the legal field? You may be interested in becoming an entertainment lawyer like John Branca. These lawyers are analytical and persuasive professionals who enjoy working with creative people.
Education and Training
All lawyers have to obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees. If you would like to specialize in entertainment law, the best way to prepare is to choose a relevant undergraduate minor (or second major) in addition to Pre-Law. Your studies could include courses in music, film, writing or other media.
Before you apply to graduate school, you will usually have to take the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, in your senior year of undergraduate school. You would then go to graduate school to earn a master’s degree in law, also called an LL.M. (Legum Magister). Some graduate programs allow you to incorporate entertainment law into your studies.
Common Career Paths
Entertainment lawyers can specialize in a few different areas. Some work in IP (Intellectual Property) law. When an artist feels that someone has used their work without permission or otherwise violated their copyright, they hire an IP lawyer to represent them.
You could also be responsible for creating contracts. Specifically, entertainers need lawyers to make sure that their contract with a studio or publisher includes fair compensation and working conditions. You could become a corporate lawyer for a production company. They ensure that the company has permission to use all locations, brands and likenesses in the media that the company produces.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Profession
You will need to prepare yourself for some of the more difficult parts of entertainment law. As you might expect, it can be challenging to work with producers, directors and creators as they all tend to have strong personalities and opinions. You will have to market yourself (and possibly your clients) continuously to ensure that you have consistent employment.
However, you would enjoy a career that is rarely dull. You would be an essential part of creating engaging, influential and vital contributions to our culture.