Fashion law is a growing field, but the demand for lawyers exceeds the number of available jobs. To become a fashion lawyer, one must have a legal background, take fashion law classes, and gain experience in the fashion industry. It is also important to make connections with fashion lawyers and seek opportunities in fashion-rich environments.
Fashion law is an emerging area of legal practice, which can mean one of two things for lawyers looking to break into the field. First, there is a lot of potential for growth and the field is expanding; but second, the demand for lawyers still in many cases exceeds the number of jobs available. There’s no way to become a fashion attorney, but choosing the right education, making industry connections, and gaining experience working in the fashion industry will certainly help.
It goes without saying that a fashion lawyer must have a legal background before starting a career in fashion law. Obtaining a legal education requires law school, traditionally a three-year graduate program that culminates in passing a bar or legal licensing exam. For many traditional areas of legal practice, where you studied usually doesn’t matter as much as the grades you received, the grades you scored, and your overall grade. The same is not necessarily true of the laws of fashion.
As an emerging practice area, the field of fashion law is differentiated and specific. It involves several broad legal areas, but is focused entirely on a small sector of society. A very small number of law schools specifically offer trendy and elective law classes, and most trendy lawyers are busy building their practices, not teaching. If you know you want to become a fashion lawyer before going to law school, it would be a good idea to look for schools that offer fashion law classes or that support fashion law centers to gain field experience while you are in school.
While fashion may be flashlights and catwalks on the outside, on the inside it is a complex web of rights protection, property interests and image ownership. To become a fashion lawyer, you must be familiar with the many areas of law that stylists and haute couture companies need to be successful. In addition to all the fashion law classes offered, future fashion lawyers should take many classes on intellectual property, including copyright and trademark rights. Students should also strive to understand business law, particularly import and export incorporation laws and rules.
Classes alone do not always allow you to become a fashionable lawyer. One of the best ways to become a fashion advocate is through experience and connections. During law school, look for opportunities to meet fashion lawyers. Following someone who does what you want to do can be a very valuable way to gain insight into the field, as well as making a contact who can keep an eye out for open positions or internships.
Whenever possible, look for work in the fashion design industry. Experience working in fashion, even if not strictly legal, can empower an application to become a fashion advocate later on. Fashion experience is also likely to provide insight into the many dimensions of the fashion world, which can help make a fashion-centric legal career even more robust.
Of course, jobs in the fashion industry are not available everywhere. Fashion meccas like New York, Milan and Los Angeles have many opportunities for lawyers and law students to appreciate the intersection of law and fashion, but these experiences can be difficult to emulate elsewhere. Looking for work, contacts or internships in fashion-rich environments is often easier to find – and generally more respected by employers – than experience gained only in the classroom, on paper or in smaller markets.
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