Before law school sucks their dreams away under a mountain of student debt, many students picture themselves getting into the entertainment industry. Famous clients! Exciting legal problems! Hollywood living!
Then everyone ends up drafting venue clauses for regional office supply distributors.
But SOME lawyers do make it into the entertainment game and those lawyers belong to the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel (AMEC). Industry veterans Arnold Peter, Bill Simon, and Peter Winkler, founded AMEC in 2005 after realizing that while there were plenty of organizations supporting and honoring the achievements of other industry professionals — from actors to costume designers — no one recognized the in-house counsels and business affairs attorneys.
Won’t someone please think of the lawyers?
From those beginnings, AMEC grew its membership to over 14,000 legal and business executives across the major entertainment, media, and technology companies.
Each year, AMEC hosts the Counsel of the Year Awards, a soirée that celebrates the crème de la crème of media and entertainment law. This year’s event is extra special as it marks AMEC’s 20th anniversary. Originally slated for January, the ceremony was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances and is now set to dazzle attendees on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at the Westdrift Manhattan Beach at 7. We’ll be there as one of this year’s honorees too.
However, if you haven’t secured your ticket yet, you’re out of luck — the event is officially sold out. But don’t despair; limited sponsorship opportunities are still up for grabs for those eager to support the cause.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
