What law school, if I want to be an entertainment lawyer or a sports/talent agent Forum

[Andrewfromla818]

Hello all!
I live in Los Angeles, but want to move out to another state to get a great experience for law school and social life considering that I've lived in LA all my life an I want to broaden my horizons. On the other hand, I want to get into entertainment law, or become and sports or talent agent.

Any recommendations on law schools or advice.

Thank you

[PeanutsNJam]

Why would you go to law school to be a sports/talent agent?

For entertainment law, go to the best school you can get into without having to incur large amounts of debt. Good luck.

[existentialcrisis]

Everyone and their mother wants to do entertainment law, and I think becoming a sports agent (absent close connections with professional athletes) is essentially impossible.

[usn26]

I think becoming a sports agent (absent close connections with professional athletes) is essentially impossible.

The answer, then, is that Andy should go to Alabama and try to get tight with some of those future first rounders. Problem solved.

[dannyswo]

I think becoming a sports agent (absent close connections with professional athletes) is essentially impossible.

The answer, then, is that Andy should go to Alabama and try to get tight with some of those future first rounders. Problem solved.

[pancakes3]

better odds of being a pro athlete than a agent repping an athlete

[nealric]

None.

[SmokeytheBear]

Hello all!
I live in Los Angeles, but want to move out to another state to get a great experience for law school and social life considering that I've lived in LA all my life an I want to broaden my horizons. On the other hand, I want to get into entertainment law, or become and sports or talent agent.

Any recommendations on law schools or advice.

Thank you

Really you just want to go to the best law schools possible so you have a shot at getting with the best law firm possible. Certain schools have entertainment law programs (like USC and UCLA), but they dont really give you any leg up in job placement. A handful of big law firms in LA deal with various aspects of entertainment law from film finance to general representation of studios and production companies for project development and acquisition. Latham, O'Melveny, Sheppard Mullin, and Paul Hastings all have reputable entertainment groups (other firms as well, those are just the first that come to mind). I do know that Sheppard Mullin pays its associates in the entertainment group on a different, non-market scale.

[rpupkin]

For entertainment law, go to the best school you can get into without having to incur large amounts of debt. Good luck.

[BlendedUnicorn]

there isn't a law school in the country that will give you a good shot at these jobs. It's the type of thing where if you have to ask you probably won't like the answer.

(Maybe with the exception of the above mentioned entertainment law, which isn't anything like being an agent)

[ManoftheHour]

This information is from speaking with two alumni of my school (one is an entertainment lawyer at SAG-AFTRA) and the other is in house counsel for a NFL team: It's damn near impossible. You either know key people in both industries or you got extremely lucky. The NFL guy did mention that he all the other NFL attorneys around him are from schools like Stanford, Harvard, Yale and the like. But keep in mind that even if you went to one of those schools, without the proper connections it's still damn near impossible.

I met a guy from a TTT who is actually a sports agent and he got his "in" because one of his friends was a star high school basketball player, did well in college, and got drafted in the NBA Draft.

[snowball2]

Harvard, circa 1972.

[jbagelboy]

the answer that comes closest to ringing true is that a good school that sets you up at a top corporate firm for a couple years with some financial flexibility (i.e., low debt or wealthy family) is likely the best path (although it would still take an incredible amount of luck).

For example, I have an acquaintance/former classmate who attended a top school, worked for a little over a year at a fancy corporate firm (think S&C/CSM/DPW) and then was able to move out to LA and get hired at an agency and now is a fairly successful talent agent, albeit not with anyone A-list. And there are other examples like this, but they are rare.

[nealric]

One thing to keep in mind: not all sports/entertainment law goes to lawyers who specialize in sports/entertainment. I've worked on tax matters in the entertainment industry, but I am by no means an entertainment lawyer. Likewise, I know litigators who have represented sports stars, etc.

In the end, it's just not as sexy as 0Ls usually think it is. It's doing deals, litigation, tax planning, etc., but the underlying business just happens to be sports/entertainment instead of the financial industry, tech, oil, etc. Representing teams/leagues/studios presents pretty much the same types of issues as other big businesses. Representing the stars is not much different than representing other high net worth clients.

Agents obviously have a more direct connection with the principals, but that's not really practicing law.

[ManoftheHour]

Representing teams/leagues/studios presents pretty much the same types of issues as other big businesses. Representing the stars is not much different than representing other high net worth clients.

This is exactly what a lawyer who represents an NFL team told us. He told us if you want to go hang out with football players, be a football player.

[timbs4339]

OP: There are about 5000 threads on this forum where people have asked that question and the response is always the same:

1) If you go to a school that feeds into biglaw firms, and do well enough to be able to pick a law firm with league/industry clients, and then get lucky to be staffed on those deals or litigations, and do well enough that partners will call you for more deals/litigations with those clients, you may be able to become an in house lawyer for a league, team, studio, or entertainment company 4-7 years out of school.

2) If you know a lot of athletes or actors, you should apply to work as a talent agent or start your own agent business. The JD is probably not going to be particularly useful in this regard unless you already have a client base and get a night JD.

There isnt a third option.

[Andrewfromla818]

Party law schools??

[RedPurpleBlue]

Party law schools??

No such thing exists. Stop asking this question over and over.

Law school is going to be stressful almost everywhere. If you don't get good grades at a T2-T4 school, you're probably not going to get a legal job. If you don't get great grades at a T1 school, you're going to miss out on clerkships/biglaw. If you don't get great grades at a T13, you're going to miss out on feeder clerkships, prestigious fellowships, and WLRK/the most prestigious firms. At every tier, there's a real and legitimate stress for most people who attend law school in that tier.

If you want to go to a party law school or the least stressful law school, get into Yale and set your standards for employment at paralegal. You're bound to have a great time and have ample room to party. Otherwise, if you're like the vast majority of people and want the best possible outcomes for yourself, you're going to stress almost anywhere. To what degree depends on your temperament and other factors, but there will be stress.

[lavarman84]

Representing teams/leagues/studios presents pretty much the same types of issues as other big businesses. Representing the stars is not much different than representing other high net worth clients.

This is exactly what a lawyer who represents an NFL team told us. He told us if you want to go hang out with football players, be a football player.

Or work in a different part of the front office.

[cavalier1138]

Party law schools??

Stop.

[nick417]

It is kind of mean to just shit on someone's aspirations.

Two pieces of advice:

(1) most people go to law school wanting to practice "X" law; they usually leave law school wanting to do "Y". I had a friend like you who wanted to be a sports agent and finished law school wanting to do corporate/bankruptcy law. Thus never choose a law school because you want to practice in a niche area (unless it is IP law and you have the credentials to be a patent lawyer) because you will most likely find that you like to do something different.
Also, you can learn niche areas of law by doing an internship, you do not need to go to a law school that "specializes" in that niche area.

(2) always go to the best law school, in the region you want to work in, that is the cheapest.

[cavalier1138]

It is kind of mean to just shit on someone's aspirations.

It's kind of cruel to encourage someone to go to law school for careers that are extremely unlikely, especially when that person has explicitly stated that they're looking for a "party school".

[BlendedUnicorn]

Re: party law school, most law schools have a drinking culture and all law schools are easy if all you care about is passing. They create difficulty with the curve, not content.

If you want to party in law school my advice is to go to a school where you can bottom out the curve and still get a good outcome. Ideally, without taking on ruinous debt for your attempt to extend college.

[nick417]

It is kind of mean to just shit on someone's aspirations.

It's kind of cruel to encourage someone to go to law school for careers that are extremely unlikely, especially when that person has explicitly stated that they're looking for a "party school".

It isn't my life that is getting ruined by a bad decision. Don't get so bent out of shape. Who are we to judge someone's aspirations at being an entertainment lawyer or a sports agent (frankly if the OP could use "search tools" they could research this sports agent question because it is constantly being asked and then shot down by people like you, we don't need to help EVERYONE, especially if the individual does not take the time to perform basic research on here).

His/her question regarding "specialty" schools for a niche area of law is a common question on here. Law schools continuously try to fool people with advertising themselves as a "top 10 school in [insert specialty field]." It is a joke and that is something that this forum can help from spreading.