Serra Aladag is highly experienced in two things: living abroad and entertainment law. So, she felt right at home working as the first legal extern at CNBC’s London office last summer.
Aladag, a third-year student at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California, has participated in two compact study abroad programs for a month during each of her two summers in law school. She studied in Greece with Tulane University Law School her first summer and in Scotland with William Mitchell College of Law during the second.
“I love traveling, but on a professional level, my experiences prepared me to practice entertainment law,” says Aladag. “Entertainment is global and there is no substitute for experiencing different cultures in their local environments. In today’s market, study abroad opportunities helped me increase my international exposure and build my overseas contacts.”
Aladag knows something about the entertainment industry, having been born and raised in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. She received a bachelor’s of fine arts degree in television and film with honors from Chapman University’s renowned program.
“I like how working in entertainment brings together art, business, and law,” explains Aladag. “Entertainment is the main industry in Southern California, and it has always been something I wanted to pursue. The heart of entertainment is artistic expression, but at the end of the day it is a business.”
If Aladag sounds familiar with the entertainment industry, it’s because she has the experience to prove it. After obtaining her undergraduate degree, she went to work as a paralegal at Sullivan & Cromwell (S&C), a prestigious law firm known for representing media moguls and a number of the Forbes Global 2000 businesses. In her second week, she volunteered to work on an arbitration case in Florida that involved one of the biggest entertainment conglomerates in the United States.
“My two years at S&C were an amazing opportunity and a great learning experience,” says Aladag. “During the arbitration, I lived in a hotel for two months, working very long hours and barely sleeping, but learned a lot about entertainment and business law.”
Her work at S&C convinced her to attend law school. Aladag eventually decided to return to Chapman for her law degree because, as she says, “It is a small school where the teachers are available anytime you need them.”
After returning from Greece during her first summer, Aladag volunteered at California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA), a legal services group helping artists with pro bono legal assistance. While there, she enjoyed working at the Los Angeles Film Festival, which was cosponsored by CLA.
“Working at CLA forced me to learn how to get by with minimal resources,” says Aladag. “It was really eye-opening in the sense that it was a completely different working environment than Sullivan and Cromwell.”
This past summer, Aladag was the first legal extern employed by CNBC’s London office. The opportunity gave her a chance to work on high-impact international media projects, including licensing, distribution, and risk management. Aladag gained hands-on experience in legal issues concerning European broadcast regulations. Much of her time was spent reviewing and revising syndication and production agreements for European affiliates.
“One interesting project required that I create a PowerPoint presentation on The Office of Communications [UK communication industries regulatory authority],” says Aladag. “In order to make it more engaging, I produced a brief video illustration of the principal rules, which featured two of the CNBC morning news anchors.”
Aladag’s background in entertainment law fits in well at Chapman. Recently, Chapman created a joint JD/MFA with the film school. The school is also developing an entertainment law clinic geared toward the film industry, the first of its kind within the state of California. Aladag is helping lay the groundwork for the clinic as a research assistant for the director.
Some day in the future, Aladag hopes to combine her interests in the business and legal aspects of film and television entertainment as a studio or network executive. Chances are it will involve an
international angle.
