Corey Field

Corey Field is a widely regarded entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, legal writer, teacher, and scholar. In addition to his law firm Corey Field Law Group, P.C. where he practices entertainment, media, copyright and trademark law for worldwide clients in all facets of the entertainment industry, he is a lecturer in law at the USC Gould School of Law, where he teaches courses including “Entertainment Law,” “Entertainment Law in Practice,” “Music Law in Practice,” and an LLM course “Topics in Entertainment Law.”

An award winning legal writer, Field is the author of Entertainment Law: Fundamentals and Practice published by Cognella Academic Publishing, a comprehensive practice guide for lawyers. He is also the principal author of the scholarly legal treatise Entertainment Law: Forms and Analysis formerly published by Law Journal Press, New York.

His industry leadership includes serving as a former president of The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. (New York), the world’s leading copyright law organization, and service on many leading industry boards as a director and trustee. He currently serves as outside counsel for the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Institute.

Field’s background includes unique practical experience in the entertainment industry, first as a composer who holds a PhD in music composition, then a distinguished career in the international music publishing industry, prior to becoming a lawyer, where he held the position of vice president for the United States office of two of Europe’s leading publishers, gaining extensive practical experience in all facets of international music publishing. All of this unique creative and business experience informs Field’s legal practice, writing, and teaching.

Among the clients Field has represented in entertainment and intellectual property matters are a broad range of companies, producers, and individuals in music, film, television, Internet, publishing, fashion, electronic games, and live performance from opera and ballet to Las Vegas resorts. He also represents visual arts clients, celebrities (including actors, athletes, and social media influencers), talent agencies, publicists, and managers.

Field's practice includes not only deal making and licensing, but intellectual property including copyright and trademark filings, registrations, and brand development, including copyright management strategies such as termination of copyrights for authors and their estates. He is especially sought after for growth- and enterprise-building creative projects, including film and media financing, major publishing and acquisition agreements, television and music production, and other creative projects that need both legal and business experience and leadership on behalf of his clients.

While his practice is primarily transactional, Field is also a litigator who has argued complex copyright issues before a circuit court of appeal. Some of his high-profile clients currently are or have included The Sundance Film Festival; NBCUniversal Media, LLC; Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI); the estate of Mother Teresa of Calcutta; the Jabbawockeez; Postmodern Jukebox, MGM Resorts; GoldieBlox, Music Sales Corp./G. Schirmer Music Publishers; The Philadelphia Orchestra; Cable News Network, Inc. (CNN); leading film and television composers, writers, estates of writers and composers, actors, celebrities, and an elite niche representing orchestras, opera and ballet companies, ensembles, composers, performers, agents, managers, and others in the worldwide classical music industry.

Field currently serves as a trustee of the BMI Foundation Inc.; the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc.; as a member of the Grammy Foundation's Entertainment Law Initiative Advisory Committee; and services on committees for The Grammy Foundation’s MusiCares programs. He formerly served as treasurer of the American Music Center (New York, now "New Music USA"), as a governor of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy, as a trustee of the Marlboro School and Music Festival (Vermont), and as a board member of the Music Publishers' Association of the United States (New York).

He is a regular guest speaker for entertainment industry organizations and at law schools nationwide. Field is also the editor and author of several published and recorded musical compositions and arrangements. In addition to his teaching at USC Gould, he formerly taught a course in the Entertainment Studies Department at UCLA Extension titled "Copyright Law in the Entertainment Industry." He has presented a week-long seminar on film production, copyright, and entertainment law presented at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing, China, at the invitation of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, for an audience of CEOs of leading Chinese production, media, and finance companies.

Among his honors in legal writing when he was a law student are the National Grand Prize in the Grammy Foundation Entertainment Law Initiative Legal Writing Competition, and an ASCAP Nathan Burkan Award for a paper on copyright law.

Field is a member of the California, New York, and Pennsylvania bars. Born in Los Angeles, he holds a BA in Music from UC Santa Barbara and a Doctorate in Music Composition from the University of York, England, and, while working full time in the music publishing industry on the East Coast, attended Widener University School of Law, graduating cum laude. He is listed in Southern California Super Lawyers.
 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post
December 2, 2019
Re: Jonathan Handel

Jonathan Handel was quoted on Pete Davidson's nondisclosure agreement for attending his comedy shows, barring the audience from speaking about his shows. Handel mentioned that successfully suing a random fan for $1 million would be nearly impossible. “The optics of going to court and suing one of your fans is really pretty ugly,” Handel said. “It would be foolish to do that.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Scott Altman
October, 2019

"Are Boycotts, Shunning, and Shaming Corrupt?” Legal Theory Workshop, University of Virginia Law School, Charlottesville, VA.

Gregory Keating
October, 2019

Gregory Keating’s paper, “Is Tort Law ‘Private’?” was reviewed by Ellen Bublick as a significant work of scholarship relating to Tort Law in JOTWELL: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots), on October 15, 2019.

Dan Simon
October, 2019

“Confessions True and False,” Korean Society for Criminal Law, Yonsei University Law School, Seoul, South Korea.