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Anyone know the best school(s) for entertainment law and perhaps more specifically sports-related or have any good resources you could direct me towards to read up on it?

What are you trying to do in that field?

What do you mean by "Entertainment Law?"

The "best school" for any type of law is T-14.

Lower ranked law schools always promote "specialty" fields. These rankings tend to be arbitrary. The goal of law students (typically) is to be employed as a lawyer, not to be some expert in a specialty field. And employment is based largely on where you go to school (the school's rank) and location.

But I don't want to destroy your spirits about entertainment law. What I would do is pick about 10 law schools you would be interested in going to (based on your LSAT score, location, and rank) and research the "entertainment law" courses offered at those schools. (I assume you know that law school is not like undergrad, you do not have to declare a specialty or major; you just take courses you are interested in and you graduate with a J.D.). I would then see the depth of courses (how many the school offers) and research the quality of the professor. My presumption is the only schools that would offer an elaborate array of entertainment courses would be big city schools in NYC and L.A. (Note: I am not sure what "entertainment law" is. My school offered one course called "entertainment law." Outside of that, I presume you want to be an agent (thus heavy contract courses) or IP lawyer (copyright work). I am not sure what else entertainment lawyers do.)

Good luck.

Also, choosing a law school based on a specialty field is not wise. I had classmates who went to law school because they wanted to be a sports agent OR patent attorney OR prosecutor and realized they really enjoyed a different field. My friend who wanted to be a sports agent, realized he loved transactional and bankruptcy work and now is an attorney in that field.

Again, I don't want to pour cold water on you desire for "entertainment law;" I would just focus on getting into the best school you can get into in the region you want to work in.

UCLA is a feeder school for law firms servicing the entertainment profession.

lawman84 wrote:What are you trying to do in that field?

BigZuck wrote:What do you mean by "Entertainment Law?"

If I'm able to get into sports (which I know is a hard field to get into), being an agent would be ideal, but I also am not opposed to working for a team or league. If not, I think I'd enjoy working in the music industry. But I'm really not set on one particular thing yet.

I don't want to go to a school that is SPECIFICALLY for entertainment law and not really good for anything else because I'm still not 100% sure what I'll end up enjoying, but I want to go to a school that would be a good choice for that if it's the route I choose.

For example, based on my limited understanding (I've been having trouble finding good resources, hence why I came on here), UCLA is a good school for entertainment law and does well placing students in internships and everything and is in a pretty prime location for that type of work, but it's also overall a pretty well-respected school and has pretty good employment numbers post-grad.

Toni V wrote:UCLA is a feeder school for law firms servicing the entertainment profession.

I'm aware of UCLA and have been accepted there, which is actually what sparked this curiosity about other schools as I've been weighing the pros and cons of UCLA. Do you know of any schools that are also known for their ability to feed into firms like that? More particularly, do you know of any outside of California that do?

nick417 wrote:The "best school" for any type of law is T-14.

Lower ranked law schools always promote "specialty" fields. These rankings tend to be arbitrary. The goal of law students (typically) is to be employed as a lawyer, not to be some expert in a specialty field. And employment is based largely on where you go to school (the school's rank) and location.

But I don't want to destroy your spirits about entertainment law. What I would do is pick about 10 law schools you would be interested in going to (based on your LSAT score, location, and rank) and research the "entertainment law" courses offered at those schools. (I assume you know that law school is not like undergrad, you do not have to declare a specialty or major; you just take courses you are interested in and you graduate with a J.D.). I would then see the depth of courses (how many the school offers) and research the quality of the professor. My presumption is the only schools that would offer an elaborate array of entertainment courses would be big city schools in NYC and L.A. (Note: I am not sure what "entertainment law" is. My school offered one course called "entertainment law." Outside of that, I presume you want to be an agent (thus heavy contract courses) or IP lawyer (copyright work). I am not sure what else entertainment lawyers do.)

Good luck.

I didn't mention this at all, but I've already applied to all the schools I plan to apply to lol. I'll definitely look more closely at their courses! Thanks for the advice.

brinicolec wrote:I don't want to go to a school that is SPECIFICALLY for entertainment law and not really good for anything else because I'm still not 100% sure what I'll end up enjoying, but I want to go to a school that would be a good choice for that if it's the route I choose.

Really, overall employment statistics are a better measure of your opportunities coming out of a school than a school being "good for" a particular kind of law. You can get appropriate training for basically any legal field from pretty much any law school (maybe some exceptions on the marings). People will mention USC and UCLA as being "good for" entertainment law, but that's more about the opportunities that the location offers than it is about specific educational opportunities that the school provides you.

So the short answer to this is Yale - or, the school with the best overall employment options out of your choices. A school with worse placement rates but some kind of "entertainment law" focus is not a better option than a school with better placement rates.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

brinicolec wrote:I don't want to go to a school that is SPECIFICALLY for entertainment law and not really good for anything else because I'm still not 100% sure what I'll end up enjoying, but I want to go to a school that would be a good choice for that if it's the route I choose.

Really, overall employment statistics are a better measure of your opportunities coming out of a school than a school being "good for" a particular kind of law. You can get appropriate training for basically any legal field from pretty much any law school (maybe some exceptions on the marings). People will mention USC and UCLA as being "good for" entertainment law, but that's more about the opportunities that the location offers than it is about specific educational opportunities that the school provides you.

So the short answer to this is Yale - or, the school with the best overall employment options out of your choices. A school with worse placement rates but some kind of "entertainment law" focus is not a better option than a school with better placement rates.

I think a better way to phrase my question would've been the best school for entertainment law placement, networking opportunities, and experience (via extern/internships)

brinicolec wrote:

lawman84 wrote:What are you trying to do in that field?

BigZuck wrote:What do you mean by "Entertainment Law?"

If I'm able to get into sports (which I know is a hard field to get into), being an agent would be ideal, but I also am not opposed to working for a team or league. If not, I think I'd enjoy working in the music industry. But I'm really not set on one particular thing yet.

I don't want to go to a school that is SPECIFICALLY for entertainment law and not really good for anything else because I'm still not 100% sure what I'll end up enjoying, but I want to go to a school that would be a good choice for that if it's the route I choose.

For example, based on my limited understanding (I've been having trouble finding good resources, hence why I came on here), UCLA is a good school for entertainment law and does well placing students in internships and everything and is in a pretty prime location for that type of work, but it's also overall a pretty well-respected school and has pretty good employment numbers post-grad.

You probably know this, but you don't need a law degree to be an agent. The best way to be an agent is to network and intern. Put yourself in a location where you can spend a lot of time kissing the right asses and interning.

Working for a sports team or league is pretty similar. It's very competitive and based mainly on your network, and internships are key. It's not going to be easy to break into this area because it's tough to stand out from the crowd. If you know anybody in these jobs, I recommend trying to use it.

If you want to work in California, UCLA makes a lot of sense. Hopefully, they've offered you a good scholarship. Moving forward, I recommend starting to network and trying to intern as early as possible in your law school career.

brinicolec wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

brinicolec wrote:I don't want to go to a school that is SPECIFICALLY for entertainment law and not really good for anything else because I'm still not 100% sure what I'll end up enjoying, but I want to go to a school that would be a good choice for that if it's the route I choose.

Really, overall employment statistics are a better measure of your opportunities coming out of a school than a school being "good for" a particular kind of law. You can get appropriate training for basically any legal field from pretty much any law school (maybe some exceptions on the marings). People will mention USC and UCLA as being "good for" entertainment law, but that's more about the opportunities that the location offers than it is about specific educational opportunities that the school provides you.

So the short answer to this is Yale - or, the school with the best overall employment options out of your choices. A school with worse placement rates but some kind of "entertainment law" focus is not a better option than a school with better placement rates.

I think a better way to phrase my question would've been the best school for entertainment law placement, networking opportunities, and experience (via extern/internships)

Sure, but schools with the best employment stats overall are going to have the best of all these, too.