| Course Description |
This J-Term seminar will use case studies and discussion to explore the legal, practical
and emotional challenges involved in harnessing creativity to commercial ends.
It will include lessons in how to ignore the best legal advice money can buy, how to speak
truth to power, how to understand leverage in all its hidden guises, how to know when to
double down and when to give up, and how the best lawyers are all one handed (“on the
one hand…but on the other hand”). Class discussion and exercises will be used to illustrate
how lawyers are called upon to help reconcile conflicting imperatives—which sometimes result in
the opposite of what was originally negotiated. Most case studies focus on the film industry, but
the class discussion will also apply these lessons to other areas, including sports, other
entertainment sectors, and the innovation economy. There will be several attorneys currently
practicing at the highest levels of the entertainment and sports bars who will make guest
appearances to share their experiences. Evaluation will be based on the student having completed the reading and viewing
requirements and participating in class discussions. This includes playing an active role in
classroom exercises, during which we will work through real-world scenarios based on
the assigned readings and films to illustrate dilemmas and practice types of advice.
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