Students in the Media, Entertainment and Technology Law and Policy 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.
Media, Entertainment & Technology Law and Policy J.D. Specialization
Prepare to practice law in the film, television, music and other creative industries or to work in the area of entertainment and media law and policy.
Specialization Requirements
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Criteria
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 [PDF] and submit it to the Records Office. 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 Susan Akens, the Executive Director of the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law.
Curriculum
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Overview
The Specialization in Media, Entertainment and Technology Law and Policy’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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Introductory - A-Tier Courses
TWO Required Introductory ("A Tier") Courses (i.e., choose from Copyright Law or Intellectual Property; Entertainment Law is required)
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Foundational - B-Tier Courses
TWO Foundational ("B Tier") Courses
LAW 201Constitutional Law II
LAW 220Introduction to Federal Income Taxation
LAW 230Business Associations
LAW 234Accounting For Lawyers
LAW 248Business Bankruptcy
LAW 250Secured Transactions
LAW 252Business Torts
LAW 260Labor Law I
LAW 291Taxation of Business Enterprises
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Specialized - C-Tier Courses
The minimum requirements are THREE Specialized ("C Tier") Courses from any combination of Group 1 and Group 2 courses, but no more than one Group 2 course can count towards the three C Tier course requirements. In addition, the credit requirement is no less than 6 credits.
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C-Tier - Group 1
LAW 244
Television Law
LAW 274Trademark Law
LAW 301Art and Cultural Property Law
LAW 303Music Industry Law
LAW 304International Intellectual Property
LAW 306Patent Law
LAW 357Navigating through the Entertainment Unions and Guilds
LAW 364Motion Picture Distribution
LAW 391Venture Capital and the Start-Up Company
LAW 432International and Comparative Sports Law
LAW 437Telecommunications Regulation
LAW 480Television Special Issues
LAW 481Harmonizing Hollywood: Entertainment Disputes, Ethics and Peacemaking
LAW 525Patent Intensive
LAW 683News Media Law in the Digital Age
LAW 743Corporate Practice Clinic
LAW 760A/BPatent Clinic
LAW 767Music Industry Clinic
LAW 768Sports Law Simulation
LAW 769Documentary Film Legal Clinic
LAW 776Copyright Amicus Legal Clinic
LAW 900Contract Design
LAW 932The Blockchain: Technology, Law and Regulation
LAW 949Esports: The Legal and Business Evolution
LAW 972Negotiation Theory & Practice (J-Term)
If 302 - Copyright Law and 307 - Intellectual Property are NOT taken as A-Tier Courses, then they can be taken as C-Tier Courses.
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C-Tier - Group 2
LAW 386
Digital Technologies and the Constitution
LAW 483Privacy, Data and Technology
LAW 484Information Privacy and Data Protection
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 681What Drives Innovation
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Research Paper
A faculty-supervised research paper which meets the Law School’s writing requirement, subject to the prior written approval by the Executive Director of its relevancy and appropriateness to the Specialization. The research paper may be written as part of an individual Law 340 course or as a supervised law review comment.
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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 or from the Records Office. 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 Tier A and Tier C courses only. Once all program requirements have been fulfilled in Tier A and Tier 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) for the Fall 2019 term.
- 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.