Before I became a defense attorney, I spent 20 years negotiating licensing deals, royalty agreements, and complex business contracts in the entertainment industry. I built The OC Recording Company from an in the closet setup in my dorm room into a nationally accredited recording studio, record label, music publisher, and audio school. I worked with Grammy winners, produced content for Netflix, composed for Power Rangers, engineered voice-over for Blizzard and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and earned a Gold Record along the way.
People ask me all the time: does that experience actually translate to law?
My answer is always the same. Every deposition I take, every MSJ opposition I draft, every mediation I prepare for — I’m drawing on two decades of reading people, managing risk, and closing deals. The courtroom is just a different studio.
The Session and the Deposition
In the recording studio, you learn very quickly that the best work happens under pressure. An artist walks in with a vision. Your job is to translate that vision into something real — something that sounds exactly the way they hear it in their head, even when they can’t articulate what that is. You’re listening for what they’re not saying. You’re reading body language. You’re making judgment calls in real time.
A deposition is the same thing. You’re sitting across from a witness, listening not just to the words but to the hesitation, the deflection, the subtle shift in tone when a question gets uncomfortable. Twenty years of sitting behind a console reading artists taught me how to read people — and that skill doesn’t care whether you’re in a sound booth or a conference room.
Negotiation Isn’t a Legal Skill. It’s a Life Skill.
Long before I ever drafted a contract as an attorney, I was negotiating them as a business owner. Licensing deals with major publishers. Royalty splits with artists who had managers, agents, and entertainment lawyers of their own. Equipment purchases. Lease agreements. Partnership terms.
When you run a small business in the entertainment industry, nobody teaches you how to negotiate. You learn by doing — and you learn fast, because the money is real and the margins are thin. Every deal I closed, every dispute I resolved, every difficult conversation I had with an artist or a vendor — that was litigation training. I just didn’t know it yet.
Now, when I’m negotiating a settlement or drafting a mediation brief for a case with plaintiff demands exceeding $25 million, I’m pulling from that same toolbox. The stakes are bigger, the language is different, but the fundamentals are identical: understand what the other side wants, figure out what they’ll accept, and find the path to resolution that protects your client.
Managing Chaos Is the Job
Here’s something people don’t understand about running a recording studio: it’s project management on steroids. On any given day, I might have three sessions booked back-to-back, each with different artists, different genres, different technical requirements. Between sessions, I’m mixing a track for a client in New York, mastering an album for a label in Atlanta, responding to licensing inquiries, updating the website, fixing a piece of gear, and invoicing last week’s sessions.
Sound familiar? It should. That’s exactly what insurance defense looks like. Right now, I’m managing a concurrent caseload of complex construction defect, premises liability, and personal injury matters across multiple California courts. Each case has its own timeline, its own set of experts, its own discovery deadlines, and its own carrier reporting requirements. The ability to hold all of that in your head simultaneously — to prioritize, to triage, to never drop a ball — didn’t come from law school. It came from running a studio.
The Non-Traditional Path Is the Advantage
There’s a bias in the legal profession that the only way to become a great attorney is to follow the traditional path: top law school, big firm summer associate, partner track. And that path produces excellent lawyers. But it’s not the only path — and in some ways, it’s not even the best one.
I went to law school at night while running my business during the day. I graduated magna cum laude from Taft Law School and passed the California Bar Exam, the Baby Bar, and the MPRE all on the first attempt. I didn’t have the luxury of studying full-time. I had payroll to make, clients to serve, and a business to keep alive. That pressure didn’t make law school harder. It made me sharper.
When I walked into my first courtroom, I wasn’t nervous. I’d already spent two decades performing under pressure — just in a different arena. When I took my first deposition, I wasn’t overthinking it. I’d spent years sitting across from difficult personalities and finding a way to get the best out of them. When I managed my first heavy caseload, I wasn’t overwhelmed. I’d been managing complex, overlapping projects with competing deadlines since 2005.
The entertainment industry didn’t delay my legal career. It built the foundation for it.
What I Bring to the Table
Today, I defend insureds and serve as monitoring counsel for excess carriers at Sellar Hazard & Lucia LLP. I handle matters with plaintiff demands exceeding $25 million and aggregate exposure in the tens of millions. My clients include major insurance carriers and well-known brands. I draft MSJ oppositions, complex status reports, case briefs, and mediation correspondence. I coordinate with defense counsel, expert witnesses, and carrier representatives.
I also maintain my own practice at Asaf Fulks Law, where I handle civil litigation, intellectual property disputes, contract negotiation, and estate planning. And yes — I still run The OC Recording Company, because the studio is where it all started and I’m not done making music.
I hold a U.S. patent, a federal trademark, and I’m a published author. I’m the creator of CaseDesk™, a legal technology platform. I’m Avid Pro Tools and Waves Audio certified. I’m a Grammy Voting Member of the Recording Academy. And I’m a member of the California State Bar — #343622.
People sometimes look at my resume and don’t know what to make of it. It doesn’t fit neatly into a box. Good. The best attorneys I know don’t fit into boxes either. They bring something different to the table — a perspective, a skill set, an intensity that comes from doing hard things in the real world before ever stepping into a courtroom.
The courtroom is just a different studio. And I’m just getting started.
Asaf David Fulks is an Associate Attorney at Sellar Hazard & Lucia LLP and the founder of Asaf Fulks Law and The OC Recording Company. He can be reached at asaf@asaffulkslaw.com.