Marking 15 Years of MFIA
MFIA marked its 15th anniversary with a reunion that brought students, alumni, and faculty together at Yale Law School in November, following MFIA’s annual Access & Accountability conference. The afternoon served as a chance to reconnect, setting the stage for a reflective look at how the clinic has grown and evolved over the past decade and a half.
Current MFIA student directors Andrea DenHoed, Raymond Perez and Anna Selbrede (all third-year students) led a conversation on the clinic’s history, revisiting formative cases, legal theories, and moments that shaped MFIA’s role on campus and beyond. Several alumni shared where their careers have taken them since leaving the clinic, reflecting on how MFIA influenced their paths in journalism, public-interest law, litigation, and academia, and offering advice to students interested in defending the First Amendment and advancing government accountability. The panel included Jeff Guo ’20, a journalist at NPR’s Planet Money; Jeremy Kutner ’12, general counsel at Pro Publica; Lexi Perloff Giles ’17, an associate in the media law group at Davis Wright Tremaine; Andy Udelsman ’17, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center; and Rebecca Wexler ’16, an associate professor at Columbia Law School.
The reunion concluded with a dinner in New Haven featuring comments by ISP Director Jack Balkin and a lively exchange with MFIA Director David Schulz and New York Times newsroom lawyer David McCraw about their start as media lawyers and what the future holds for press rights. The evening turned playful, with Media Law Jeopardy and plenty of laughter. The event offered a reminder that MFIA’s community is built not only on shared commitments and serious work but also on genuine connection and joy in being together.
