An entertainment lawyer represents an entertainer or artist for all business affairs. If you want to become an entertainment lawyer, you must fully understand contracts, intellectual property and labor disputes. You will need to have many sharp skills to help you navigate this busy, often confusing, legal world. You also might have to choose a specialty, because there are so many types of entertainment in which you could specialize.
To become an entertainment lawyer, you need a very specialized education. You first must have a bachelor's degree, many times in pre-law or political science. Next, you must spend approximately three years learning about the responsibilities and various tactics of attorneys in law school. At this school, it is helpful to take as many contract classes and intellectual rights courses as possible. After you have graduated, many countries require you to earn a legal license; in the United States, for example, all new attorneys must pass a bar exam to be licensed.
An entertainment lawyer needs a wide range of skills in order to be successful. If you want to become an entertainment lawyer, you must be an excellent researcher, because you will have to look at previous cases to see how entertainment lawyers in similar situations handled disputes. You also must be an excellent communicator, because you not only will have to negotiate with entertainment companies and their lawyers, you also will have to explain highly technical legal procedures to a client who could have no legal understanding. It is also important to have a strong work ethic, because a busy attorney can put in long days at work and even work on some weekends.
Contracts probably are the biggest responsibility you will have once you become an entertainment lawyer. Negotiating fees, work schedules, credit, distribution rights and more are essential to keeping clients satisfied. In addition, intellectual property law is important, such as suing a company for illegally using a client's song in a commercial. Labor law also is important to the job, because many entertainers belong to a union and therefore have strict limitations on working hours and restrictions regarding working environments.
If you want to become an entertainment lawyer, you should consider specializing in a single field. Movies, television, radio and literature all have a separate set of rules, contracts and standards for artists. Focusing on one industry will help you to master the needs of that client base and serve them better.
