Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Virginia

Re: entertainment law practice requirements

Law licenses are kind of like licenses to practice Medicine and Surgery. You can practice brain surgery with any medical license (assuming you can get hospital privileges) even though you may not be board certified or have any experience in the medical specialty of neurosurgery.

Similarly, a law license entitles you to practice all types of law within a state, although the rules of legal ethics require that you not take cases that are beyond your expertise (or that are beyond your ability to gain the requisite knowledge).

So-called "entertainment law" is really a mixture of contract law and copyright/intellectual property law and a few other legal topics such as state laws regulating talent agents. In California, where the State Bar of California certifies some lawyers as Certified Specialists in various areas of the law, "entertainment law" is not one of these areas.

The law license you get in one state entitles you to practice all kinds of law in that state. To practice in another state, you also need a law license in the other state which might require passing a second bar exam, or not, depending on the rules of the second state. Any lawyer can hold himself or herself out as an "entertainment lawyer" and, if the lawyer can get clients from the entertainment industry, then presto, he or she is an Entertainment Lawyer.

Some of the best books, courses and seminars specifically oriented towards aspiring entertainment lawyers are available from the Beverly Hills Bar Association (bhba.org), and the Los Angeles County Bar Association (lacba.org).