Legal Lady Boss- Julie Zerbo

Does the name Julie Zerbo sound familiar? If you’re a lawyer in the fashion space, you’ve undoubtedly heard of her and her media company, The Fashion Law. I first learned about Julie back when I was in law school in Washington DC- you’ll read below that she was attending a neighboring DC law school while I was there. She was then and continues to be a force to be reckoned with. Our networks and careers have had us crossing paths over the years, and I’ll admit Julie’s success can be intimidating. But as you peel back the layers you’ll see that there is a reason Julie has become an authoritative voice in the fashion industry- namely, she’s incredibly smart and her work ethic is unparalleled. Her commitment to her craft and her resilience to take an unconventional path are refreshing, and she serves as an inspiration for all of us to question the unknown, be curious, and stay true to yourself.

Julie, you are now the founder and CEO of a successful media and information company, The Fashion Law. What everyone might not know is that this started as a blog while you were in law school. Tell us about the inception of The Fashion Law.

It’s true. I started TFL very informally when I was in my first year of law school, mostly as a little side project so that I could teach myself fashion law since my school did not have a course. After school, I would read industry news and do research about various cases, and ultimately, write about those things. I had a lot of catching up to do because I did not have a background in fashion at all. At a certain point, I realized that there was a pretty substantial void in the media space in terms of coverage of the legal aspects of the fashion industry and retail more generally. So, I started to publish my articles on a blog in case other students were interested, and years later, here we are.  

You were attending law school at Catholic University in Washington DC at that time. I attended law school in DC myself, and I can speak from experience when I say that DC isn’t the most fashion-centered town. Why fashion? Why fashion law?

Honestly, I am still not really sure what the exact answer is for “why fashion?” As I mentioned, I do not have a fashion background (my education prior to law school was in economics and international business), and I did not ever foresee working in the fashion industry. That just was not something that was on my radar, or that I really thought I was interested in doing. Having said that, I was very interested in intellectual property, and when my IP professor mentioned fashion law one day, I started thinking about the role of IP in fashion, and also about the expansiveness - and importance of - the fashion business both in terms of global revenue and also how many people it touches on a daily basis. From that point of view, I found the industry to be really fascinating. 

Handling the rigor of law school is a challenge on its own, let alone while running a business. How did you handle doing both?

I think I was just younger! I am (half) joking. In all seriousness, I suppose I was just decided to take on another project, and because it was one that I was really interested in and committed to from the outset, I just tried to find time to make it work. Plus I did not think too much about what the site would entail down the road, I was just enjoying writing and learning (and still really feel that way about the site). So, there was not any pressure for a long time; I honestly never thought it was make it this long at all. I certainly did not set out to make a career out of the blog that I started in law school! 

I imagine you initially anticipated using your legal degree to pursue a career as an attorney, but at some point you realized you were onto something with The Fashion Law. What made you take the leap of faith? Do you have any advice to any law students who may want to use their legal skills to pivot into something unique?

It was a process. After I graduated from school and passed the bar in New York, I really intended to deprioritize TFL to some extent in terms of how much of my time it was taking up, and yet, it always kind of stayed with me. Even with I was working in a quasi-legal capacity, whether consulting or speaking or whatever, I kept writing and publishing, and ultimately, realized that the site was what I wanted to do. I have been really fortunate to be able to take the risk and do something totally different than what I had imagined. It was certainly a bit of a scary decision, but it was the one that made the most sense for me. As for my advice, I always tell students that there are so many different ways the you can use your legal education aside from the most traditional career trajectory, whether that be working in journalism, or operating on the business side of things, or even really doing very creative lawyering. However, regardless of the capacity in which you end up working, I think it is critical to have the foundational legal education and experience, and willingness to consistently educate yourself and enhance your formal learnings, which will then enable you to act on a wide array of opportunities, including some that you may not have necessarily thought would be enticing.  

Shifting gears to your life now. You have a multi-faceted career. What does a day in the life of Julie Zerbo look like?

I would normally say it looks quite a bit different every day but COVID has changed that to a pretty significant extent. Pre-COVID, I did a lot of in-person speaking engagements, events, etc., which have since gone completely digital. At the moment, I am spending a lot of time working on strategy and growth stuff for the site, and building out new benefits for our subscribers, including content and web events specifically tailored to students. The bulk of my day is, of course, spent researching and writing pieces for the site since a substantial amount of time goes into every article we publish.  

Tell me about an article that you’re most proud of writing, and one story’s popularity that surprised you. This is a tough one. If I have to pick a story that I am quite proud of, the first one that comes to mind is a piece I wrote a few years ago about the rampant lack of disclosure by mainstream media outlets when they were being flown to brands’ runway shows, housed by the brands, given gifts, etc., and not telling their readers about that in connection with their reviews of the collections at issue. That necessary element of disclosure and transparency in media is important to me (hence, the purely independent nature of my site), and it turned out that no one had really written about the angle of the industry before. I was ultimately able to turn that piece into another one for the New York Times, and so, I got to start writing for them, which was an added bonus. 

In terms of a story’s popularity, I would say that I am always pleasantly surprised when pieces that I spend a ton of time researching and crafting, and really diving into are of interest to my readers. For instance, I have done really deep dives, multi-part pieces, on (failed) takeover attempts by luxury groups and the inevitable legal fallout that comes as a result, and when people enjoy those, I am always really pleased.  

You recently converted The Fashion Law into a subscription service. How has your business changed over the years? How did you determine that now was the right time to make the subscription conversion?

Yes, it is all still very new and exciting. Frankly, the business did not change very much for awhile. I spent a long time putting in the work, actively trying to learn my craft and grow my knowledge in this space, developing my voice and the direction of the site, and gaining an expertise that is distinctly my own and unique to TFL. Over that several year period, I was fortunate enough to very organically build a dedicated readership that routinely comes back to the site. Given the make up of the readership and their behavior, demographics, etc., and the fact that site was never meant to be (and is not!) a viral, headline-centric outlet that relies on massive amounts of one-off clicks, subscription made the most sense to me as the most immediate way forward, as opposed to other revenue models. Plus, this way ensures that I can keep TFL independent of advertisers and bias, which has always been a key priority for me, particularly given that such staunch impartiality is relatively rare in media.  

 As for timing, I am such a minute-detail, perfectionist type of person, especially when it comes to my work. There never was going to be a “right” time. So, at a certain point, the numbers just made sense, and it became time to evolve and grow. 

The fashion industry has been going through changes over the past few years further amplified by the pandemic particularly when it comes to journalism and media. What do you think the future holds? Do you think we’ll emerge out of the pandemic with a Roaring Twenties part two?

For me, I think the most striking element of the pandemic and its effect on consumers — which will dictate what the future looks like post-post-COVID — is the larger reexamination of values, either consciously or otherwise, that has been underway. I do not think that the growing emphasis on, say, sustainability and/or data privacy, will topple luxury goods spending by any means, but I do think that consumers are starting to shift their priorities, including what they want to spend money on and where, in much the same way as we saw immediately following the financial crisis in 2008. 

Mentorship is at the heart of Avocate. Tell us about one of your female mentors and the impact that mentorship has had on your professional development.

I have had quite a few women (and a few men!) really, really help me along the way, and that continue to help me now. Top of mind is, of course, Barbara Kolsun, who I met when I interned at Stuart Weitzman years ago now. It sounds silly but she took a chance on me, put me to work, and trusted me even though I did not know the first thing about fashion, and she really believed in me - and still believes in me - even when I am not quite so confident. (Never thinking the product/output is good enough comes as part of the territory of being an entrepreneur I think.) I have always tried not to rely on others for validation when it comes to my work, and have really just focused on doing my own thing and building something that I personally can be proud of, but having someone that I respect look to my work and consider it to be valuable and useful is really special. 

What is something that our readers would be surprised to learn about you?

I almost never consume any fashion-related media — or do very much shopping — in my spare time. I am not one to read fashion books or watch the various industry documentaries, or very many fashion shows really, save for Hedi Slimane’s Celine shows. For some reason, I am much more interested in the legal and business side of things. The book I just finished is The Spider Network by David Enrich, who is incredible. It is about the manipulation of Libor. 

What is one piece of advice you’d leave our readers with?

Be curious and question things, and try to do so as regularly as possible.