How to stay on top of media law developments

It’s no good if a lawyer only knows the law, but not how it applies in practice. To that end, it is imperative that media lawyers stay on top of current events and various industry developments. But how do you actually do that? I was asked this by the Film Law Society, and this was my advice…

The Key Point: Small pieces of information, more often! People often assume that commercial awareness difficult to achieve, and requires sitting down for hours at a time to do research. But actually, because the pace of change in media and technology is so fast, it’s actually best to pick up small news stories throughout the day. This can be achieved by:

• Incorporating industry news into your social media feed. Following certain hashtags or accounts (like Film Law Society!) on social media, so that interesting and insightful stories appear in your feed! On Twitter, I highly recommend @THREsq, which provides entertainment law news and comment from The Hollywood Reporter.

• Listening to Podcasts. Podcasts are a great and easy way to receive information about the media industry. My particular favourites include Today In Digital Marketing, The Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing, and the BBC’s The Media Show and Front Row.

• Attend (virtual) events hosted by universities, organisations, and even law firms! With events and seminars moving online, it’s now easier than ever to listen to experts discuss exciting developments in the field. A simple search for “media industry events” or “entertainment law seminar” online will bring up lots of interesting things – also look at EventBrite! If you register for an online seminar but can’t attend, most organisations will send you a link to the recording afterwards! For example, I’m speaking at the Fashion Law London event in December – which is fully virtual! 

• Subscribe to weekly round-ups and newsletters. If you find a blog or website you like, chances are there is an option to subscribe to new posts or newsletters. Established news outlets including Reuters and The Guardian often have dedicated pages just for media and entertainment stories, and it’s easy to subscribe for stories to be delivered to your inbox. Likewise, Universities often have student-run blogs with punchy, insightful articles. Fordham Law School (in New York) has a great blog dedicated to IP, Media and Entertainment Law, as does the University of Washington.