Shinzhong Li, Paramount’s vice president of business and legal affairs, spoke to the students on Monday.
Claire Nam 9:57 pm October 8, 2024
Contributing reporter
Claire Nam, contributing photographer
Shinzong Lee ’05 spoke with Yale students last Monday about her journey as an attorney in the entertainment law industry.
Lee, Paramount’s vice president of business and legal affairs, spoke about the entertainment industry, her career as a lawyer and how her time at Yale University shaped it. She noted that many people pursue law because they believe it is relatively stable.
“Entertainment law is actually almost the exact opposite,” Lee said. “To stay relevant, you must stay on top of industry trends and be willing to pivot amid constant legal changes and uncertainty about job cuts and business collapse. No.”
At Yale University, Lee majored in psychology and was an aspiring journalist who served as editor-in-chief of News. After undergrad, he earned a law degree from the University of Chicago and held legal positions at Apple and NBCUniversal before taking his current position at Paramount.
Although Lee didn’t end up becoming a journalist, the fast-paced and dynamic working environment of the journalism industry was a quality she prioritized when exploring a new career path.
Cinemart and the Yale Legal Aid Society co-sponsored the event. Daphne Wu ’26, president of both organizations, moderated the lecture.
Mr. Wu met Mr. Lee through Cross Campus, Yale University’s online networking platform. She said she invited him to speak because she had an “almost candid but refreshing honesty” about pursuing professional experience.
When asked about recent changes in the industry, Lee pointed to changes in both consumer behavior and corporate consolidation.
She noted that in recent years, people have stopped going to movie theaters and are instead getting most of their entertainment from “30 seconds of TikTok.” He predicted that those interested in entertainment law should follow carefully, as virtual reality, AI and social media influencers will drive public consumption in the future.
At the corporate level, entertainment companies have been reluctant to hire full-time employees for decades, instead opting for contract or project-based employment to more efficiently meet their needs, moving toward a “gig economy.” Lee noticed the transition.
Lee considers himself an avid consumer of popular entertainment. In fact, the connection between her work and “everyday life” was a crucial element in her transition from law to entertainment law. Mr. Lee said the trades published in the Wall Street Journal were interesting, but “not necessarily something you’d tell your friends about.”
Lee also pointed out how legal judgment can be extended to different areas that people don’t often consider when they think about the law. When asked about unexpected moments on the job, she recalled the process of scouring the social media of potential candidates for the Los Angeles-based reality show.
“As a lawyer, I never thought I’d be sitting at my desk reading social media comments or looking at weird photos. Especially when I receive an email asking me to check out a particular candidate’s OnlyFans. But I did it and it was definitely memorable,” she said with a laugh.
At the end of the question-and-answer session, Mr. Lee said his goal was not to persuade students to pursue law, but to share his honest experiences with the industry.
She pointed out that given Yale’s liberal arts nature and abundance of humanities majors, students don’t know what else to do and can easily fall into the law school trap. Instead, she encouraged students to go to law school only if their immediate plans were to become lawyers.
Many in the audience echoed Lee’s philosophy of balancing creative and professional pursuits in life.
“I realized that it doesn’t always have to be one or the other. You don’t have to choose between creativity and stability. If you’re a creative person, you’ll find a way to weave that into your career, And it will definitely find you,” Sidney Morrison ’24.5 said.
The event was held at William Harkness Hall.