Since the last post, I had a whirlwind of a birthday celebration, which involved a week straight of non-stop partying. It was electric! My friend Rebekah Chesnes flew into LA and we painted the town with theatre, food, music and dancing!

School is now back in full swing and it is busier than ever. This semester I’m taking Constitutional Law, Evidence, Federal Income Tax, and Music Industry Contracts. Obviously, Music Industry Contracts is my favorite class. Classwork and studying has been constant, and while the material we cover in second year is harder than the first year material, it seems easier because we have gotten the hang of how law school works. I’ve also found we don’t go over cases as dilligently as in first year and some of my classes rely less on the Socratic Method (where the professor calls on specific students to explain a case).

I also got my grades from my summer classes and they both are great. I’m very happy with the outcome.

Aside from just classes, I have been working hard as the President of my school’s Entertainment and Sports Law Society. We have a TON of events planned for this year and have lined up a lot of great speakers. Most of our meetings involve a panel of speakers which I think will be really fun and informative for the students.

Our first meeting was a smash! We had Donald Passman speak, who is a very well known music industry attorney and is responsible for some of the biggest deals the industry has ever seen. I think the success of this meeting will really help to set the tone for a great year.

In addition to all the busy school stuff, I have found some time to go out and pursue my other interests, like Electric Effect. I’ve been out doing some swing dancing which has been great fun and gotten to see some live music - namely one great indie artist that I’ll be speaking about more in the near future.

It really has been quite a long time since my last post. It's been a CRAZY two months. I have been working for my professor and studying A LOT for my classes. I just finished final exmas for my summer school classes and I am excited to get a bit of a break!

Both of my classes were very interesting. My Criminal Procedure class was all about the IV Amendment (Searches and Seizures), the V Amendment (right against self-incrimination and due process), Miranda Rights (not part of the V Amendment but related/based), and the VI Amendment (right to counsel). It was informative to learn about the rights afforded to everyone and the fact that so many people have no idea of their rights. It was also interesting to see the dynamics between the students in the class. Some were very anti-law enforcement officers. Others, like a friend of mine who is a former officer, is pro-law enforcement. I was a bit surprised to find myself siding more on the law enforcement side of the cases. Forgive me for lack of a better word, but a lot of the defendants were just so stupid. However, I guess that is why they got caught. The thing I keep in mind is that I am just an outsider reading the stories of the troubles in which people got themselves involved. Hindsight is 20/20, as is an objective third party.

My other class was Music Publishing. In addition to looking at cases, we looked at actual publishing contracts and the different types of deals that can be made between the writer and the publisher. We also looked at the different kinds of licenses for different uses of musical compositions and even had mock negotiations. Our professor is one of the top music publishing attorneys and the class has been really worthwhile.

Now for something on a more personal note:
Lately, I have been encountering many people with a complete lack of manners. It is really not that hard to reply to an email, return a phone call or make time for a meeting. It is incredibly frustrating when things need to get done and people cannot get themselves together enough to do their parts.

Unfortunately I cannot post the articles I will be writing, but will probably be able to post information on where to get the treatise once it’s published.

A bit about me for those who are new to my life:
I’m a law student pursuing entertainment law with a goal of representing musicians. I also have a podcast radio show called Electric Effect, featuring unsigned and indie bands in Los Angeles. Music has always been one of my passions and I am lucky to be able to merge it with law. I work with a lot of independent musicians and I see them constantly encountering bad deals. I want to represent artists to make sure they can build solid careers and make good choices. Basically, I can help make the business part of their careers run smoothly, allowing them more time and energy to focus on being creative.

In the past, I did college radio, worked at record labels and on other professional radio shows, worked promotions for indie artists, and so on. I do everything for Electric Effect myself, so I’m quite busy. I also write a music review column called Eclectric Ink, which is featured online and in my law school newspaper.

Okay, enough background - here’s the scoop on my day:

Today was very busy and very interesting. I spent the day studying, working on a lot of business stuff for Electric Effect, and updating Eclectric Ink. I have my last final (Torts) for the Spring semester in a day and I must say I am glad to be almost done! I won’t be getting lazy, however. I start work for my Copyright professor the following week. I am his research assistant and will be helping with volume two of his entertainment law treatise. I’m really excited about that because I will get to expand my knowledge on entertainment law.

I also got a phone call from a prominent podcaster today reaching out to my cause and offering some electric ideas. It’s amazing how fantastic opportunities can come one’s way when least expected. He is the one who suggested I start this blog and I’m really looking forward to this new blog project.