The Visual Law Project (VLP) curates workshops, lecture series, and visual media that foreground the increasingly important intersections between visual content and the law. We develop visual literacy within the YLS community and train law students to deploy visual content as a tool for advocacy.
Visual and digital technologies have transformed the practice of law. Lawyers are using videos to present evidence, closing arguments, and victim-impact statements; advocates are making viral videos to advance public education campaigns; and scholars are debating ideas in a multimedia blogosphere. Everyone’s doing it. But no one is really teaching it — or reflecting upon it. We see training in visual advocacy — effectively evaluating and making arguments through videos and images — as a vital part of our legal education.
The Visual Law Project fosters a community of students invested in visual advocacy. We enable students to produce intellectually stimulating documentary films on legal issues to advance public debate. We organize an annual reading group centered on visual jurisprudence. We connect YLS students with innovative practitioners and thinkers through our speaker series. VLP operates both within and beyond the law school, and seeks to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects with graduate students in other programs.
The Visual Law Project’s faculty advisors are Emily Bazelon and Rebecca Crootof. Each year, YLS students direct VLP activities and oversee its mission. The 2017-2018 Co-Directors are Catherine Crooke ’19, Alexandra Eynon ’19, and Ruthie Lazenby ’19.