Month: December 2011

The Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute has launched a project to research the origins and evolution of entertainment law and its most influential practitioners:  The Hollywood Legal Legacy Project will document this key part of Los Angeles legal life with oral histories, research publications, an interactive guide to regional entertainment archival material, and other initiatives, all of which Southwestern Law School will make publicly available. Although other scholars have chronicled the 20th Century rise of the entertainment industry and its role in boosting  Southern California and its economy, relatively little attention has gone to the lawyers and law firms who helped build the industry by counseling and representing studios, talent guilds, other entertainment institutions and stars. Southwestern’s collaboration of historians, legal scholars and legal practitioners are focusing first on two projects: tracing the origins of the local firms and attorneys whose work defined the practice specialty and influenced the organization of the Los Angeles Bar, the industry’s economics and legal precedent in the field. The scholars also are building a library of oral histories with major practitioners in  Los Angeles area and beyond. Here’s more on this project from  Molly Selvin, (left) a project participant and Southwestern’s assistant dean for interdisciplinary programs and an adjunct professor of law. She was a member of the Editorial Board and a reporter  for the Los Angeles Times. She’s a professor and...