Advice For Aspiring Jr. In-House Role in Sports/Entertainment? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi All,

Was hoping for some advice, and thought this might be a useful thread for those seeking for advice to pursue similar goals.

I believe I have credentials that would make me a competitive applicant (V5, T6 school, previous "light" work experience in the industry), and would be looking for more than a contract review role, ideally with the potential to have some role in business side (but would still like to exit biglaw early). Will be a third-year in September, and happy to provide any more info if helpful. I had the following questions:

1) When should you start reaching out/applying? Understand this transition takes time, but should I wait at least until September when I can say I'm a third year in a cover letter? Or does this not matter?

2) Any benefit to using recruiters v. straight through a website like linkedin? If so, would it be beneficial to work with as many recruiters as possible to extend my reach? If not, what websites other than linkedin or goinhouse are worth checking out?

3) Is there a material difference between (a) leaving the V5 to go in-house, v. (b) going to a different (lower-ranked/less prestigious) firm, and then going in house? Would the opportunities be harder to come by in option (b), or would it be harder to climb the ranks if I pursue option (a)?

4) Are there any 'notorious' companies that one should avoid?

Appreciate all the advice in advance - I understand most (if not all) of the advice will be anecdotal, but would still be grateful for any that you could provide!

[Anonymous User]

The most important point: you will be giving up a ton of money by taking one of those jobs. The pay is notoriously bad and a couple of my friends were hoping to follow the path you describe until they got offers with salary so low that it was effectively not viable.

Better to have a successful spouse or family money before going down that road.

[Anonymous User]

This is anecdotal, but I interviewed for such a position that only paid about 15% less than my class year in biglaw (I didn't get an offer, but still thought the data point might be useful)

[Anonymous User]

I am only going to touch on #3. Going from a V5 versus a V50 or V100 or whatever will likely have no material impact on your progression. In fact, if you can get real hands-on entertainment experience at a lower ranked firm for a few years, you may be in a good spot to jump in at a higher level than you otherwise would have been by joining at year 3 and trying to work your way up. A lot of this is time, place, and person sensitive though.

Also, I concur with the anon above that entertainment companies generally pay poorly, at least to lower level attorneys. There may be the odd exception here or there, but if you start looking on Glassdoor at generic associate counsel salaries at the big three letter networks and big movie studios, you'll get a good picture for what you're facing.