In a nutshell

Advertising and marketing lawyers offer advice to ensure a client’s products or advertisements are compliant with industry standards, plus general advice on anything from contracts between clients, media and suppliers, to employment law, corporate transactions and litigation. Entertainment lawyers assist clients in the film, broadcasting, music, theatre and publishing industries with commercial legal advice or litigation. Strictly speaking, sports lawyers work in an industry sector rather than a specific legal discipline, and firms draw on the expertise of individuals from several practice groups. Reputation management lawyers advise clients on how best to protect their own ‘brand’, be this through a defamation suit or an objection to invasion of privacy.

Advertising and marketing lawyers 

• Ensure advertising campaigns comply with legislation or regulatory codes controlled by the Advertising Standards Agency or Ofcom.
• Advise on comparative advertising, unauthorised references to living persons, potential trade mark or other intellectual property infringements.
• Defend clients against allegations that their work has infringed regulations or the rights of third parties. Bring complaints against competitors’ advertising.

TV and film lawyers 

• Offer production companies advice on every stage of the creation of programmes and films.
• Assist on the complicated banking and secured lending transactions that ensure financing for a film.
• Help engage performers; negotiate a multitude of ancillary contracts; negotiate distribution and worldwide rights; and manage defamation claims.

Music lawyers 

• Advise major recording companies, independent labels and talent (record producers, songwriters and artists).
• Advise on contracts, such as those between labels and bands, or between labels and third parties.
• Offer contentious and non-contentious copyright and trade mark advice relating to music, image rights and merchandising.
• Offer criminal advice when the things get old-school rock ’n’ roll.
• Assist with immigration issues.

Theatre and publishing lawyers 

• Advise theatre and opera companies, producers, agents and actors on contracts, funding and sponsorship/merchandising.
• Advise publishing companies and newspapers on contractual, licensing, copyright and libel matters.
• Assist with immigration issues.

Sports lawyers 

• Assist with contract negotiations, be they between clubs and sportspeople, agents and players, sporting institutions and sponsors, broadcasters and sports governing bodies.
• Handle varied employment law issues.
• Assist with immigration issues.
• Advise on corporate or commercial matters such as takeovers, public offerings, debt restructuring and bankruptcy, or the securing and structuring of credit.
• Enforce IP rights in the lucrative merchandise market and negotiate on matters affecting a sportsperson’s image rights.
• Work on regulatory compliance issues within a sport or matters relating to the friction between sports regulations and EU/national law.
• Offer reputation management and criminal advice.

Reputation management 

• Claimants’ lawyers advise individuals – commonly celebrities, politicians or high-profile businessmen – on the nature of any potential libel action or breach of privacy claim, usually against broadcasters or publishers, before it either settles or goes to court.
• Defendants’ lawyers advise broadcasters or other publishers on libel claims brought against them. With the burden of proof on the defendant, the lawyer’s must prove that what was published caused no loss to the claimant or was not libellous.
• Help clients stay out of hot water by giving pre-publication advice to authors, editors or production companies.

The realities of the job

• Advertising lawyers must have a good knowledge of advertising regulations, defamation and IP law.
• The work is real world and fast-paced.
• Clients are creative, lively and demanding.
• The issues thrown up can be fascinating and must be dealt with creatively.
• Many advertising disputes will be settled via regulatory bodies but some, particularly IP infringements, end in litigation.
• Entertainment lawyers need to be completely immersed in their chosen media and have a good grasp of copyright and contract law.
• Clients look to you for the rigour and discipline they may rarely exercise themselves. This is a sector where who you know makes a big difference, so expect to put in serious face time.
• Sports lawyers need to be proactive, passionate and have bags of commercial nous. They must be able to deal with people involved at all levels of all sports.
• Reputation management lawyers need a comprehensive understanding of libel and privacy laws and a willingness to think laterally. Individual claimants will be stressed and upset, so people skills, patience and resourcefulness are much needed.
• Solicitors prepare cases but barristers almost always get the glory.

Current issues

• In the world of broadcasting, both content providers and platform operators have been keen to introduce high definition services as a means of retaining viewer loyalty and enhancing revenues.
• Changes to the Ofcom Broadcasting Code now permit product placement in TV shows, creating all kinds of new advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
• Online television has grown a great deal and broadcasters are attempting to generate new revenue streams to offset the commensurate decline in advertising revenues. Firms are also involved in fighting illegal online content.
• At the heart of many developments is convergence, ie getting multiple services from a single provider.
• The rise of smart phones and tablets have have created an explosion in demand for related services like apps, creating a deluge of opportunities for new players in the market. It's also becoming clear which digital and audio-visual services consumers are and are not willing pay for.
• Web-based interactive, ‘smart’ advertising is throwing up all kinds of data protection and privacy issues.
• The lines between advertising, news, drama, music, sport, interactive games and user-generated content are blurring as online access becomes increasingly routine.
• The attempt to regulate online content in the wake of the Digital Economy Act and the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive is increasing demand for legal services.
• The music industry continues to face challenges: illegal downloading and piracy are the biggest concerns. Sales of physical products are declining rapidly, so deals that combine physical sales with merchandising and live appearances are increasingly common.
• Tax credits for film financing have helped boost (foreign) investment in UK film and TV production. The UK film industry had a strong year in 2010 with investment topping £800m and studios operating almost at full capacity.
• The closure of the UK Film Council in early 2011 was seen as a blow to film financing, but the government is trying to encourage the development of other ways financing films.
• The economic downturn has intensified the public interest in sensitive areas such as gambling, alcohol and products targeting children. Various changes have been made to advertising codes by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which is the ASA's sister organisation.
• The 2010s have been hailed as a 'golden decade' of sporting events for the UK. As well as the 2012 Olympics, there's the 2013 Champions League Final at Wembley (the second time in three years), the 2014 Ryder Cup, the 2014 Commonwealth Games (Glasgow), the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
• Football clubs’ finances have continued to hit the headlines, and a couple of years back Portsmouth became the first ever Premier League club to go into administration. A points docking penalty and relegation swiftly followed. Other clubs have been sold, bought or invested in by all manner of private investors, many from overseas, providing lucrative work for a whole other set of lawyers and in some cases reversing clubs' fortunes overnight.
• Staying in the world of football: the Premier League is signing increasingly lucrative sponsorship deals – shirt sponsorship deals alone were worth £100m in the 2010/11 season, up almost 40% from the previous year. The Premier League’s overseas broadcasting rights for 2010 to 2013 have doubled, from £625m to £1.4bn.
• The 2011 phone hacking scandal created work for a host of law firms. Its fall-out and legal consequences for the press, politicians and police are likely to create more work still.
• A new draft Defamation Bill is likely to lead to the biggest overhaul of UK defamation law in a century. The government has come under increasing pressure to amend the laws as they were seen to undermine free speech. These changes may lead to a decrease in the number of libel claims and 'libel tourism' (the practice of foreign nationals pursuing their libel claims in the UK because the law is more to their advantage). The bill is to be put before parliament in mid-2012.

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- These firms for media and entertainment law