THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 70 MARCH 26, 2020
Top Entertainment Law Schools
WHERE DID THE LAWYERS ON THIS LIST LEARN THEIR SKILLS? MOST WENT TO HARVARD (19 IN ALL),
BUT UCLA ISN’T FAR BEHIND (15), AND EVEN MICHIGAN BOASTS SOME BIG HOLLYWOOD ALUMS (4) by Ashley CullinsHarvard Law School (19 ALUMNI)
Despite being 3,000 miles from
Hollywood, Harvard’s impact on the
industry is undeniable. The Cambridge
school’s Entertainment Law Clinic and
Recording Artists Project offer hands-on
experience with trademarks, copyrights
and rights acquisition for companies and
talent across film and music. Classes on
intellectual property, technology and
entertainment range from artificial intel-
ligence to fashion to sports law.UCLA School of Law (15 ALUMNI)
The Westwood campus, which
celebrated its centennial in 2019, is
home to the Ziffren Institute for Media,
Entertainment, Technology and Sports
Law. UCLA also launched a tech, law and
policy institute with its engineering
school and a Master of Legal Studies
program to teach non-attorneys skills like
negotiation and contract drafting.USC Gould School of Law (10 ALUMNI)
Its newest law class is more than half
female and includes a record number ofeconomically disadvantaged students
(who also have the highest median GPA in
school history). USC fosters relationships
with Hollywood through its externship
program and offers concentrations in
media and entertainment, technology and
business law.UC Berkeley School of Law
(7 ALUMNI)
Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader
Ginsburg and Elena Kagan recently visited
the Berkeley campus, where its top-ranked
IP program has six new technology law
courses to keep ahead of the curve.Columbia Law School (5 ALUMNI)
Its focus on experiential learning includes
a Lawyering in the Digital Age clinic
and an externship in coordination with
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.George Washington University
Law School (5 ALUMNI)
Known for its legendary patent law pro-
gram, D.C.’s oldest law school boasts more
than 24,000 living alumni.Georgetown Law (5 ALUMNI)
The D.C.-based school is launching two
tech programs: an LLM in Technology Law
and Policy for attorneys and a Master of
Law and Technology for non-lawyers.Cardozo School of Law (4 ALUMNI)
The midtown Manhattan-based school
features the FAME Center for fashion, art,
media and entertainment, a tech startup
clinic and an indie film clinic.Loyola Law School (4 ALUMNI)
Loyola in 2019 launched a Transactional
Lawyering Institute and hosts an annual
TechTainment symposium.NYU School of Law (4 ALUMNI)
NYU’s student-run Intellectual Property
and Entertainment Law society fosters
networking and skills across fashion,
tech, entertainment and patent law.University of Michigan Law School
(4 ALUMNI)
The Ann Arbor school highlights skills
across IP, labor and employment, and liti-
gation through its Entertainment, Media
and Arts Law Students Association.A POWER LAWYER’S ADVICE TO STUDENTS
“Don’t be afraid to separate
the forest from the trees. When
I was a young lawyer, I spent
way too long negotiating a force
majeure clause. I was worried
— as was the studio lawyer —
about what the client’s rightswould be in the case of nuclear
war. My mentor politely pointed
out that in that case, there
probably wouldn’t be anyone
left to read the contract — and
certainly no judge to enforce
the rights I wanted clearlyspelled out. In the end, the studio
lawyer and I and flipped a coin
to see whose language we would
include — which no one ever
read — and had a glass of wine.”
— HAROLD BROWN, UC BERKELEY
SCHOOL OF LAW (’76)10fea_lawyers18_L [P]{Print}_53634036.indd 70 3/24/20 7:00 PM