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| Students at Fordham Law School now have the option of pursuing two fashion law degrees. Image: Shutterstock |
If your
interests are in both fashion and law, there’s a new opportunity for you at
Fordham Law School, which will be offering the world’s first degree in fashion
law starting this fall.
Inspired by the
increasing number of lawsuits related to copyright, intellectual property, and
other fashion issues, Fordham’s Susan Scafidi and Diane von Furstenberg have
teamed up to put together two fashion law degree options: a Master of Law in Fashion (LLM) for lawyers
wanting to focus on the fashion world and a Master of Studies in Law (MSL) for
members of the fashion community who want to get a good legal grounding.
“There
needed to be a field of fashion law where people were trained,” said
Scafidi. “Fashion companies have in-house counsel, but
they aren’t specialized in fashion . . . A fashion lawyer can understand,
empathize with, and act on behalf of clients in a technical and specialized
industry.” Scafidi says.
Fashion
law has actually been a growing niche in the legal profession. Fordham established the Fashion Law Institute
in 2010, as well as a Fashion Law Bootcamp summer program to address related
issues. But with the support of the
Council of Fashion Designers of America, they were able to upgrade the training
into a full degree program to be offered both full time and part time. Courses will explore employment issues for
models, data privacy, and regulating sustainability.
“Legal
savvy, like business expertise, has always been an important component in
building a successful fashion house or design career,” noted
Scafidi. “It just hasn’t yet been recognized to
the same degree….Every designer should have a minimum degree of legal literacy,
if only to know when to seek a legal opinion — and to avoid being sent to sit
at the kids’ table while the grown-ups make the legal decisions that will
determine the future of their lives and labels.”
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