Law Schools

The Top Entertainment Law Schools, Ranked

Please don't read too much into this.

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Every year, The Hollywood Reporter ranks the top law schools for entertainment law. Before we dig into this year’s ranking, it’s important to remind everyone — especially prospective law students — not to put too much stock into rankings like these. First of all, 0Ls don’t have any idea what they really want to do and selecting a law school based on some vague perception of its subject matter prowess is a recipe for disaster. Secondly, as a real-life entertainment lawyer told us years ago, the key to making it as an entertainment lawyer isn’t about specializing in a niche practice, but in mastering straightforward transactional skills.

In other words, please go out and get the best law degree you can and go hone your craft at a top firm and then take that experience to showbiz and not look for a short cut.

But, if you are looking for paths of lesser resistance, here’s what THR has to say:

1. UCLA: “UCLA tops the list with an impressive offering through the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law that includes a media and entertainment specialization, a documentary film legal clinic and sports simulation program — plus, the school has a dedicated entertainment law review and a well-established externship program.” Sure. And it’s in an industry hub and boasts alumni for networking purposes. This seems like a good bet for someone looking to break into entertainment law, but don’t let the sports simulator throw you: the real reason UCLA sits atop this list is that it’s genuinely a top-tier law school that just happens to also have some entertainment connections.

2. Harvard: See! This is the thing. There’s no magic bullet here, just go to top law schools.

3. USC: Another top 20 law school that just happens to be in LA. “It has added and expanded courses (including a new emphasis on music law issues surrounding the streaming economy).” And anything covered in that course will be obsolete in three years. That’s the nature of rapidly developing areas of law, which is exactly why law students need to master the fundamentals.

4. Berkeley: It’s not clear what the methodology is on this ranking (edit: it is “determined by how many alumni are among the ranks of Power Lawyers — seemingly a pure headcount — with vague bumps for “specialized courses, externship opportunities and more program essentials”), but it seems as though it’s the U.S. News ranking with bumps based on how many miles the school is from Burbank.

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5. Columbia: Or New York as the case may be. Broadway is still a thing.

You can check out THR for the rest of the top 10. You can probably already guess that Stanford and NYU will make appearances. Southwestern and Loyola are shoehorned in there for some reason (edit: some high profile alums loft those numbers — but that’s an iffy prospect — the former Chief Justice of the United States went to Mitchell Hamline but I wouldn’t recommend it for a SCOTUS career either). As bad as it is to choose a school based on a practice area you might hypothetically want to practice in three years, definitely don’t choose a school ranked in the 70s (or worse) because they have a fun symposium once a year.

Whatever you do, go to well-regarded law schools and minimize your debt. This sums up everything you need to know.

Top 10 Entertainment Law Schools [The Hollywood Reporter]

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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