What was your first “big break”? Or, what is the most significant experience you had that made it possible for your success today?

My first job out of law school was at a boutique law firm in New York which represented clients from various aspects of the entertainment industry, including such art house notables as James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. Prior to that, I had never seriously considered a career in entertainment law. Working at a boutique firm enabled me to gain more experience and exposure earlier in my career than I would have, had I gone a more traditional route.

Are there any ways that you feel Georgetown especially prepared you for what you are doing now?

I was an international business major. Entertainment is just that, an international business. Remembering and understanding that fact puts everything into perspective. I have to assess risk and balance business concerns on a daily basis. As in-house counsel for a multi-national entertainment company, it is crucial to recognize this practical difference between practicing law in a law firm and working in-house.

What is your best advice to those who are starting out in your field?

Grow a thick skin, and don’t believe all those who tell you that you won’t succeed. I once had an interviewer tell me that the entertainment industry does not like junior lawyers, so basically I won’t get a job. I was a third year lawyer. I got that job.

What trend(s) do you think may emerge to bring change to your business five or ten years from now?

File sharing, not just music, but television shows and entire feature films. It has and will continue to change the way the entertainment industry does business. Encryption, enforcement and regulation will be keys to the solution.



Monique Cheng Joe is counsel at The Walt Disney Company in Burbank, CA., responsible for intellectual property issues related to development, production, licensing, merchandising and acquisitions for various divisions of The Walt Disney Company, including Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures International, ABC, Disney Consumer Products, and The Disney Channel. She has been with Disney since 2001.

Previously, she was at Fox Family Worldwide in Los Angeles, CA., as Counsel, Business and Legal Affairs, where she handled intellectual property issues for development, acquisitions, production and merchandising and coordinated litigation related to intellectual property. She joined Fox Family in 1999.

Prior to Fox Family, Monique was an associate at Stairs Dillenbeck Finley & Merle in New York, a boutique firm specializing in general corporate law and securities litigation, where she started in 1995. In addition to managing complex securities litigation and commercial arbitration cases, she worked with well known film, theater and television producers and production companies in various types of transactions.

Born and raised in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, Monique received a B.S.B.A. degree from Georgetown University where she majored in International Business and minored in Mandarin Chinese. She spent time studying abroad in Taiwan and Hong Kong. She earned her J.D. from Fordham University where she graduated on the Dean’s List and was an editor of the Fordham Environmental Law Journal.