It is increasingly important to do your entertainment law research as this area is experiencing rapid growth due to emerging information-based technologies, particularly related to the Internet and handheld mobile devices. These issues include intellectual property rights, and product development, financing, production and distribution.

Because of the complexity of legal issues and the widening international scope of this business arena, knowing where to begin acquiring the right entertainment law information may be particularly challenging for an industry newcomer.

Starting points for entertainment law information resources may include:

1. Universities with well-known media departments
2. Established independent film and media schools with entertainment law info programs
3. Government-supported media and multimedia programs
4. Traditional Hollywood trade resources bridging into the new media arena
5. Established entertainment industry law firms

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Visit the websites of well-known law schools for information about entertainment law focus

There are several prestigious entertainment law information programs throughout the country, most but not all, based in California.

I recommend: New York's Yeshiva University has one of the top entertainment law programs on the East Coast. The university's Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal provides East Coast-oriented entertainment law information. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Entertainment Law Review offers its own West Coast view. At University of California, Berkeley Law School, Samuelson Law, Technology, & Public Policy Clinic as well as The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology are entertainment law information resources with a focus on intellectual property and new media issues. Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review includes an extensive information guide to entertainment law firms on the East and West Coasts.

Visit entertainment law information hub websites

These hubs include info about entertainment law from websites of Los Angeles-based veteran entertainment attorneys.

I recommend: A subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, FindLaw is a prime online resource for information about entertainment law, offering state-by-state listings of entertainment, sport, and leisure lawyers as well as informational websites dealing with entertainment legal issues. Entertainment law firm Harris Tulchin & Associates offers an information-rich International Entertainment, Multimedia, & Intellectual Property Law & Business Network. Mark Litwak's Entertainment Law Resources is website from a leading entertainment industry attorney that's chock full of information about entertainment law.

Find out about select legal groups affiliated with entertainment law resources

Many of these groups are sponsored by government-created organizations and nonprofit private legal associations.

I recommend: The Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of California is a prime entertainment law resource and a sponsor of programs focusing on intellectual property issues affecting the entertainment industry. California Lawyers for the Arts is a private nonprofit organization offering legal advice to the arts and entertainment community. StarvingArtistsLaw.com is an entertainment law reference source providing self-help legal info about entertainment law to the arts and entertainment community.

Read Hollywood trade periodicals that include entertainment law resources

Certain longstanding entertainment business periodicals publish yearly directories with extensive lists of entertainment law information.

I recommend: The Hollywood Reporter not only publishes its daily trade newspaper, it also publishes The Hollywood Creative Directory and the Hollywood Reporter Blu-Book, both prime entertainment industry information resources that include entertainment law contact information on an annual basis. Note that the HCD is also available as a continuously updated subscription online database. Also note that the Blu-Book is available as a free download (PDF).

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  It is very important to collect as much information on entertainment law as you can before you proceed. Because the entertainment business is one of the world's most competitive industries, legal loopholes and outright scams can create problems and complications, the better protected you are economically, the better off you will be.