Wednesday, June 14, 2023


A man and a woman standing in front of a house hold a framed photo of a young man

In a scene from the documentary Pay or Die, James Holt Jr. and Nicole Smith Holt hold a photo of their late son, Alec. Alec Holt died at age 26 — weeks after aging out of his parents’ health insurance — when he rationed insulin because he could not afford its $1,300 monthly cost. Students in DocProject, a program of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School, provided legal review for the film. (Photo: Scott Alexander Ruderman)

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I chose to attend Yale Law School because I wanted to direct my own education. Twenty-five years later, freedom and flexibility are still the best things about this place. As a YLS student, you get to decide what you want to study. ”


James Forman Jr.

Class of 1992, J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law