Best Entertainment Law School in South East?? Forum

[vanwinkle]

@Applying_late
I'm not sure where you work or what your legal background is, but this is completely off from my experience.
In-house entertainment companies couldn't give to shits about where you went to undergrad and usually don't give half a shit about where you went to law school. They do care about where you worked prior to applying.

All the execs I worked with were from various law schools, but the thing they had in common was large law firm experience.
The key to getting in-house is not about your law school specialty ranking because law school specialty rankings are a joke. There is no law school that has an entertainment law program that is so world-renown that Sony, Universal, Paramount, etc., are scooping up 2Ls during OCI.
**Newsflash** in-house companies don't recruit law students they recruit lawyers.

So, OP trying to find a school in the south east that is the best for entertainment law is completely pointless. OP needs to go to a good school and try and get a job at a law firm and then after 2-3 years at least of law firm experience start looking at positions in-house, hopefully doing entertainment. Working at a firm that does soft IP work or has an actual entertainment practice would definitely be helpful but is not necessary. If OP wants to say in the south east and wants to work in entertainment then trying to get into the Nashville area is a good idea because, despite what people may think, Nashville is HUGE in the music business, and not just country music. Nashville is a great place to get into the music business. LA is the place to be for movies, NY and Chicago are great for theater. Fortunately, these cities also correspond to having a large number of law firms. It almost goes without saying, that if one can attend HYS then one should attend HYS, because chances are that whatever you want to do with your life you can do it with a law degree from HYS.

But if you have very specific goals such as, entertainment law, then in addition to trying to get into HYS, the real answer is to make a good financial decision about the best law schools you have been accepted to. Once in law school it's going to be important to get some experience in the business. This can be accomplished through semester or summer internships. All major entertainment companies offer such internships. There are also numerous smaller entities within the entertainment business that will allow you to work in the mail room--in the entertainment business this is actually valid work. The mailrooms of most of the major talent agencies are filled with JDs and MBAs trying to work their way up to talent agent. There are law grads of schools of every tier trying to become talent agents and did not go the law firm route. Most talent agents don't even have a graduate degree and trying to become a talent agent purely based on prestige of your law school isn't going to work well. It won't really matter that they went to HYS or Tier 4 school if the company is going to start everyone in the mail room and make them work their way up. A degree from a certain law school is not going to help in a business where you really just have to know people and network (with the exception that your school and your alumni network may in fact provide you with the "who you know" to move up).

Since the best way to get a job at an in-house entertainment company, which is what most people think about when they say they want to work in entertainment, is to get to a large firm, then real question is, "what's the best school to get a law firm job?" Which is talked about on 99% of the threads on this site.

This is a pretty good breakdown of reality (and of why Applying_Late is a clueless 0L).

[Applying_Late]

If an employer has a strong preference to hire grauates from strong undergrad schools, do you think they'll change their minds when it comes to hiring from professional schools?

Are you a 0L? You sound like a clueless 0L.

Why? I think he's right.

He's wrong, and I agree with above poster that he's trolling.

Also, I read his post history and he is a clueless 0L. Clueless 0Ls have not been through the legal hiring process and tend to make stupid assumptions as a result; for example, assuming that legal hiring is just like undergrad hiring is a common stupid assumption.

Look whether or not I am a 0L or someone who might not even be or will ever be a lawyer, I do know the recruiting process to some industries. For example, EMI would prefer an HYS grad for law. Are you going to tell me that goldman/morgan stanley/mckinsey are going to look at a law grad from outside the T14? If you say yes, you are delusional. Unless you have someone pushing for you from within the company (provided you are not HYS), you won't even get looked at. The music industry would prefer an hys mediam candidate instead of the number 1 from a bad se school. As far as entertainment law in music is concerned, I have decent knowledge. If you have worked for any of the big 3 majors, let me know an share your advice. Otherwise stop with the platitudes. As for the poster who says Im off with the undergrad, I was speaking of getting jobs as an intern to say an A&R. The majors filter the best Schools first and then they might think about whether the kid worked for some bumshit independent music label. The music industry was very tough to break because you technically dont need a hs diploma for most positions. But those who were and cotniue to be hired without connects are those who went to top undergrads.

As for the OP, i am going to say again, if you want in house for a major in nyc, go to hys or hustle hard. And by hustle I mean cold call/target email, and try to get some internship...any internship just so you could make those connections.

[vanwinkle]

Look whether or not I am a 0L

Yep, clueless 0L.

To OP: Applying_Late is a clueless 0L and has no experience with legal hiring, which does not work the same as their undergrad world. Like a stopped clock, they're occasionally right but totally lacking in useful information. JayDee's post above is full of valid and useful info though.

[2012JayDee]

I worked in TV and the place where you earned a law degree was the least important thing.
In-house legal hiring does not happen at law schools. I don't think you're getting this part.
Law firm hiring happens at law schools. The big 3 in entertainment, and the Big 3 in business/finance are NOT EVER NEVER EVER going to start with recruiting a 2L.

In-house positions are given to lawyers with prior experience. Goldman/McKinsey/EMI/Disney are all going to require applicants with experience at some other law firm or entertainment business, from a "top" law school (which is a very broad term) and admittance to the bar usually in NY or LA.

http://www.nbcunicareers.com/search_nbc/
Counsel, Legal Affairs
NBC Entertainment
Basic Qualifications:
Outstanding academic credentials (excellent academic record at top tier law school).
Member of California bar.
A minimum of three years of entertainment, intellectual property, corporate transactions, litigation and/or other relevant subject matter expertise.
Must submit transcript and writing sample.

http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/Son ... ob/139420/
Education
JD from a top law school required.

Work Experience
Minimum 5 years experience in entertainment law (transactional) and preferably with motion picture production and acquisitions experience.


--LinkRemoved--
LEGAL DIVISION, GOLDMAN SACHS ASSET MANAGEMENT TRADING LAWYER, EMEA
Basic Qualifications
Strong educational background.

At least 5 years post qualification asset management experience in a well regarded law firm or in an in-house role with a leading institution, ideally including material exposure to OTC derivatives and other trading documentation, ideally from the buy side perspective.