<p>I've been using CC recently to help me decide on a post-undergraduate study path. I really want to go into the business side of entertainment, so I was looking at grad programs in related fields (communications, producing, etc.). However, somoene in another thread suggested that I might look at entertainment law as a possible avenue for pursuing my career goals. </p>
<p>I'm basically wondering how typical it is for someone to go to law school without (at least initially) the desire to become a lawyer. I do think a strong foundation in understanding copyrights, IP, distribution, etc. could be really useful in the entertainment world. But do you think non-law professions would be impressed with a law degree? Would that be useful? And do you think it's worth it to put up with law school in general without that strong underlying passion for being a lawyer? I never really thought about law school before this suggestion so it's a bit confusing for me, but at least interesting to be considering. And who knows, maybe I'll love it and end up trying to break into the actual legal field after all... but I'd like to cover my bases in case I don't have a radical shift in career interests.</p>
<p>I haven't done any LSAT prep yet but I'd start soon should I decide to go down this path. I graduated with a 3.95 from Northwestern in 2009 and I'm a good test taker so with enough prep work I am pretty confident in my ability to go to a strong school for this subject area. I'm just wondering if people who know more about law school than I do think this is a good, bad, or utterly ridiculous idea.</p>
<p>1) law is school is really really expensive. no one should consider taking on enormous debt without having a good idea that a) they really want to do this and b) they have a decent chance at being able to earn enough to carry that debt.</p>
<p>2) in law school you do not specialize and learn a specific field of law. you may take electives in certain fields, but you do not study to become a specific type of lawyer. in fact, especially at the top tier law schools, you learn little that has to do with the practical aspects of the practice of law. so do not expect to come out of 3 years of law school knowing much, if anything, practical about entertainment law. to learn about entertainment law, you would have to go to work for firm that does entertainment law after law school. i have no idea what the job market in such firms is like nor whether experience in such firms then translates into being able to move into non-legal aspects of the entertainment industry. (and don’t forget #1 – whether your debt will allow you to move into the type of job you want or whether your debt load would limit your options.)</p>
<p>3) people often recommend law school as a “good background” for other things. i think this may have been better advise a few years ago. there are simply an awful lot of people getting law degrees these days who are having trouble finding work. that plus the cost to attend law school makes it hard for me to see law school as a good course for someone who doesn’t want to be a lawyer.</p>
<p>4) realize also that even if you go into law school not planning to become a lawyer, there will be enormous pressure to become one- just simply because that’s what everyone else is planning to do and those are the types of jobs that will be the focus not only of the student body but the career placement office.</p>
<p>IMO - do not go to law school unless you want to practice law. There is nothing about law school that prepares you for other careers. In fact, law school doesn’t even do a good job of preparing you to be a lawyer. There is still a tremendous amount of on the job training so, in order to really understand intellectual property law, you will need to not just go to law school, but to practice law in that area. Jobs in entertainment law are about as scarce as hen’s teeth so, unless you have great contacts in the entertainment world , don’t assume you will get a job in that area.</p>
<p>I think Post #2 is very much on the money in its emphasis on debt. In the event that you could do this without taking on extraordinary amounts of debt, it might not be a terrible idea. In that case, it would depend on (1) how much you like law school, and (2) what exactly you’re trying to do with the degree.</p>
<p>Graduating from law school and passing the bar only means that you have met the minimum education requirements to begin practicing law. As expensive and time consuming as it is to get to that point, it still means that you’re only getting started as an attorney. If you’re not going to follow it up by practicing law, you’ve wasted that time and money. </p>
<p>It would be like calling yourself a jazz saxophone player because you’ve practiced alone in your room, without ever playing with a band or performing in public.</p>
<p>In one word, NO!!!. To echo the previous posts, you should not go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer. In addition, most of what you would learn in law school would not be relevant to the entertainment industry and, as pointed out above, there is absolutely no guarantee that once you graduate you would be able to get a job in that industry.</p>
<p>Nowadays employers are looking for candidates who have exactly the background that the employer wants. Therefore, if you want to go into the entertainment business, IMO you should look for a graduate business program that focuses on that industry. I’d be surprised if there weren’t some MBA or other programs that do that.</p>
<p>I’m a bit young for an MBA program (not even a full year out of undergrad yet) but I did find a handful of other Master’s programs that fit the bill quite well.</p>