Follow my Interests or Follow the Money Forum

[corporatelaw87]

Hi guys, so despite my user name I eventually want to practice entertainment law. As i am sure most of you now it is very hard to break into this field. According to NALP only 5 firms in NY have an entertainment law practice. Of those 5, only two really allow associates to practice (Pryor Cashman, Moses Singer). The other threes practice consists of partners and counsel. Now at PC and MS they pay around 125-130K first year, which isn't that much less than the BigLaw standard, however as you move up the associate ranks the difference gets larger (according to bored.com). So, the question is do I try to get a job with PC or MS, or try to get one of the other three (Paul Weiss, Loeb & Loeb), which pay more, but I may not even have a chance to practice unless I make partner (which is wayyyy to far in advance to even be thinking about). Also, I could try to do securities law (hence my user name) at another firm an would probably have more options as the number of firms that have this practice is almost infinite.

disclaimer: I know I am thinking of this way far in advance, but I don't think there is anything wrong with having some sort of plan going into law school. Also, in terms of saying "well you have to get interviews at these places", well I have connections to a lot of law firms through my family/family friends. I'm not saying this to brag, just to answer your potential thoughts.

Also in terms of the money, it's not for the greed aspect, but more for financial security, and paying off loans.

[solidsnake]

tl;dr

Go to law school and get good 1L grades first, 0L. Then decide what how you want to parlay those grades into the career of your choice.

[enygma]

i'm not terribly familiar with entertainment law, but might LA be the place to go for that, not NY?

[dood]

...

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I think it's great that you're thinking about a specialty you might be interested in prior to entering law school, but you seem to be remaining pretty flexible (securities law). However, I believe you shouldn't be too concerned with making a decision any time before your 2nd year.

If I were in your shoes, I'd start making a networking list in Excel this summer. Put all of your contacts in there with all of the information you'd need to send them holiday cards, resumes, and call them to touch base every now and then. You should "touch" your contacts in some way AT LEAST twice a year. If you have time between now and when you go to school, ask your closest contacts (family) if you could join them for lunch near their office to pick their brains a bit. If you can get them to bring a colleague or two with them, do it and add those folks to your list, too. This is pretty conventional advice, but it's amazing how few people don't keep in touch with their contacts.

[GATORTIM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ-V5qvMow4

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IONyLZn0pLI