Faculty Profile: William Milom

W. Michael Milom is a partner in the firm of Milom Horsnell Crow Kelley PLC and concentrates his practice in the areas of entertainment and intellectual property including copyright and literary property law.  Mike represents many of the most successful recording artists, producers, songwriters, music publishers, authors and other members of the creative community.

Mike is a past chairman of the Tennessee Bar Association Section on Copyright, Entertainment and Sports Law and has served as chairman of the Entertainment Law Committee of the Nashville Bar Association. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Music and Personal Appearances Division of the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and on the Copyright Office Committee of the Intellectual Property Section of the American Bar Association. He also served as a member of the International Copyright Panel of the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on International Intellectual Property, a Trustee of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A and as a founding director and chairman of the Copyright Society of the South. Mike also served on the Advisory Council of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission and as Chairman of the Mayor's Advisory Commission for the Metropolitan Nashville Film Office.

Music Row Magazine has called Mike "one of the most effective and respected entertainment lawyers" noting especially his national reputation in intellectual property law. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America r for more than ten consecutive years, has been included in the "Best 150 Lawyers in Tennessee"  and  in the Nashville Business Journal's "Best of the Bar.    He has been listed for several years in LawDragon's "500 Best Lawyers in America" and has also been selected as a Star Individual and as one of Tennessee's leading media and entertainment lawyers by Chambers USA and in 2016 and 2017 Billboard Magazine recognized Mike as a Top Nashville Power Player and a Top Music Lawyer.

Mike served as a member of the adjunct faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Law for more than 35 years teaching copyright and entertainment law and is a frequent speaker in professional seminars and symposia on intellectual property and entertainment law throughout the United States. He is active in community affairs, having served as president and a board member of the Greater Nashville Arts Foundation,  a founding member of the board of Tennessee Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and  as a member of the board and executive committee of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville. Mike also has served as Legal Counsel to the Country Music Association and currently serves as legal counsel to the  Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc., the Country Radio Seminar and the Chet Atkins Music Education Fund . Mike is also an alumnus of Leadership Nashville and Leadership Music.

Mike received his B.S. degree in 1964 from Middle Tennessee State University and his J.D. degree in 1971 from Vanderbilt University. He served in the United States Naval Reserve (active duty 1964 - 1968) and holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander, USNR- Retired.