Tips For Selecting An Entertainment Attorney

By Peter Spellman

Sooner or later you will need legal counsel as a musician, songwriter, label owner or industry careerist and it's important to know how to select the best counsel for you. Here are a few tips to help you with the screening process:

1. Get a Specialist.

The value of a music attorney is determined in large part by the quantity and quality of his or her contacts in the music/entertainment field.

Artists should be cautioned against the natural inclination to use a friend, relative ("My Cousin Vinny"), or family lawyer to fill their entertainment law needs. This is fine if they're qualified. However, the trend today is toward greater legal specialization than ever before because of the increased complexity of our commercial society.

Unless a lawyer regularly deals with management, recording, and music publishing contracts; copyright protection and administration; and licensing of intellectual and artistic property, chances are he or she won't sufficiently understand or appreciate the industry and its peculiar problems.

2. Get a Referral.

A referral from a satisfied client is a good start but...

3. Get References too.

Always ask the attorney for at least two client-references you can call. This is a perfectly reasonable request and any lawyer who has a problem with this should be your cue to exit.

Be sure the work the lawyer did for the client is similar to what you need and be sure also that the work was performed in the last 6 months to a year (this business changes too fast for sporadic legal excursions).

4. Get the Dirt

(if there is any). You can make two important phone calls to find out if there have been any complaints lodged in your city or state against this attorney. They're calls worth making:

A. Secretary of State's office (look for the phone number in the "Government" section of your phone book).

B. The Better Business Bureau . The Better Business Bureau Directory lists the addresses and phone numbers of Better Business Bureaus in the U.S. and Canada.