Students in the Media, Entertainment, Technology & Sports Law Specialization gain training in fundamental principles and specialized knowledge to practice law related to film, television, music and other creative industries. The specialization is part of the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law, which offers the comprehensive, advanced and innovative approach to the study of entertainment, media and intellectual property law in the country. In addition to offering the formal Specialization, the institute brings an annual series of influential speakers to campus and helps students secure externships and internships with entertainment-related businesses and organizations.
Specialization Requirements
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Criteria and Declaration Form
Formal participation in the Specialization’s curriculum commences in the second year of law school. To declare your interest in fulfilling the curricular requirements, please complete the Declaration Form. The Records Office will review the form, and if approved, an email confirming enrollment in the specialization will be sent.
Formal declaration is not required except for registration preference in limited-enrollment Specialization courses (subject to approval of the respective professor), and for final reflection of having completed the Specialization on the student transcript and diploma.
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More Information
Contact Cindy X. Lin, the Executive Director of the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology & Sports Law.
Curriculum
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Overview
The Specialization in Media, Entertainment, Technology & Sport Law's J.D. curriculum involves completion of seven courses arranged in three tiers. While the tiers are roughly progressive (in that, for example, basic copyright and entertainment law are helpful for the more advanced courses), generally the courses below may be taken concurrently (subject to a given instructor’s prerequisite requirements in specific instances). It is strongly recommended, however, that students in the Specialization complete the Introductory A-Tier in the second year of law school. These mandatory courses are intended to present the fundamental principles and practices of contemporary entertainment law, and they cover copyright protection, various transactional doctrines, and media law. The array of courses in the middle tier offer choices of subject areas that establish the foundation of entertainment law as a form of business practice encompassing certain routinely encountered law and doctrines. Taken together, the A-Tier and B-Tier courses tend to act as a gateway to the more specialized electives that populate the C-Tier, where students may choose to focus more narrowly on their particular professional interests in entertainment law.
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A - Required Introductory Course
Law 305 is Mandatory. Recommended as a Spring 1L Elective or during the Fall for 2Ls.
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B1 - Foundational IP Courses
1 required.
Notes:
- Law 274: Trademark Law can be taken for 2 or 4 credits.
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B2 - Foundational Business and Labor Courses
1 required.
LAW 220Introduction to Federal Income Taxation
LAW 230Business Associations
LAW 234Accounting For Lawyers
LAW 240Antitrust Law I
LAW 248Business Bankruptcy
LAW 250Secured Transactions
LAW 252Business Torts
LAW 260Labor Law & Collective Action
LAW 291Taxation of Business Enterprises
Business Courses:
- Law 220: Introduction to Federal Income Taxation
- Law 230: Business Associations
- Law 234: Accounting for Lawyers
- Law 240: Antitrust Law I
- Law 248: Business Bankruptcy
- Law 250: Secured Transactions
- Law 252: Business Torts
- Law 291: Taxation of Business Enterprises
Labor Course:
- Law 260: Labor Law & Collective Action
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C-Specialized and Advanced Courses
4 required, no fewer than 10 credits total.
Students taking more than 1 B1 Course may count up 1 additional B1 Course as a C Course.
METS Externships may count as 1 C course (capped at 4 credits).
LAW 201Constitutional Law II
LAW 244Television Law
LAW 274Trademark Law
LAW 301Art and Cultural Property Law
LAW 303Music Industry Law
LAW 357Entertainment Guilds: A Framework for Navigating The Industry
LAW 364Motion Picture Distribution
LAW 386Digital Technologies and the Constitution
LAW 391Venture Capital and the Start-Up Company
LAW 402AI and Entertainment Law
LAW 432International and Comparative Sports Law
LAW 437Telecommunications Regulation
LAW 450News Media Law in the Digital Age
LAW 479Design Law
LAW 480Television Special Issues: SVOD/AVOD Platforms
LAW 481Harmonizing Hollywood: Entertainment Disputes, Ethics and Peacemaking
LAW 482Representing Talent in the Entertainment Industry
LAW 487Race, Representation and the Law
LAW 495Artificial Intelligence Law
LAW 504Law, Technology, and Society
LAW 511A/BSocial Media and the Future of Democracy
LAW 559Internet Law, Media and Society
LAW 578Digital Wars - Major Current Legal Battles in Information Economies
LAW 582Brands: Constructing Identity
LAW 768Sports Law Simulation
LAW 769Documentary Film Legal Clinic
LAW 791A/BTalent & Brand Partnerships / Name, Image & Likeness Clinic
LAW 900Contract Design
LAW 949Esports: The Legal and Business Evolution
LAW 972Negotiation Theory & Practice (J-Term)
LAW 984Video Game Law
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Program Curriculum Notes
- While at present, law students are allowed the opportunity to take two approved courses outside the Law School, only one such outside course will apply against Specialization requirements in the C-Tier, subject to the prior written approval of the Assistant Dean for Students and the Executive Director of the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law. As examples, both the graduate division of the School of Theater, Film and Television and the Anderson School’s Entertainment and Media Management Institute offer an academically worthy array of courses suitable as a complement to the Specialization. Students should be cautioned, however, that enrollment in courses outside the Law School is generally by petition and subject to availability only after the respective school’s students have first been accommodated, and that many of the outside courses may be offered only irregularly.
- An approved full-time, semester-long externship, or an approved part-time school-year externship (of at least two-units), will count as one C-Tier course, subject to the prior written approval by the Executive Director of its relevancy and appropriateness to the Specialization. Please note that a student who takes a part-time externship will not be eligible for a full-time externship, and a student who has taken a full-time externship is not eligible for a part-time externship.
- A minimum average GPA not lower than a B- will be required in Specialization courses for final transcript certification of satisfactory Specialization completion.
- Students should declare their intention to complete the Specialization so as to be given preference in the A-Tier and C-Tier courses above (subject to instructor approval). The Declaration form is available online. See the Admissions page for details. Note: All priority courses count towards your first pass. Students enrolled in the Entertainment and Media Law and Policy Program receive preference for admission into most Tier A, B1, and C courses only. Once all program requirements have been fulfilled in Tier A, B1, and C, there is no further preference. We cannot guarantee that you will be enrolled into all requested courses since many courses have a limited number of spaces. Therefore, we recommend that you list and indicate alternate course options (in order of preference).
- Students who have completed the Specialization requirements may elect, at their option, to have the certification noted on their transcript. That election cannot be changed after the student has been graduated.
- Note also that, while specific course offerings vary from year to year, all courses taken on the approved curriculum of a given year of law school will apply toward the Specialization. Thus, third-year students who have taken approved courses in their second year may assume that such courses have been appropriately credited to completion of the Specialization.