A custom-tailored course
First came the fashion police. Now come the fashion lawyers. While the fashion police playfully expose the dos and don’ts of style, fashion lawyers draft contracts and provide legal advice behind the curtains, far from the spotlight and glamour of the red carpet. Still, the job can be exhilarating. Students who took “Fashion Law Lab,” a nine-day course offered at Harvard Law School (HLS) during the January term, caught a glimpse of the allure of the fashion industry, and most couldn’t get enough of it. Unlike other law courses, which emphasize readings and class discussion, this one featured daily workshops in which students role-played simulations of scenarios faced by general counsel working in fashion companies. Acting as lawyers advising a brand, students one day dealt with design rights and counterfeits. Another day, they had to come up with strategies to handle unregistered workers and underage models. On yet another day, they offered counsel...