This discussion, co-presented and moderated by two Miami Law
faculty members, Bernard Perlmutter, a law school
clinician and Xavier Cortada, a socially engaged artist
and lawyer, examines collaborations between a child
advocacy clinic, the artist, and clients of the clinic in building
communities that empower clients through artistic expression. The aim
is to encourage law students, artists and art students to join forces in
creative community collaborations to advance social and legal justice reforms
on behalf of marginalized clients. To prompt discussion on how to
foster collaborations of this type, we will give a short presentation on our
two decades of collaboration using art to enhance direct representation of and
systemic advocacy for foster
children involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals, juveniles
shackled in courtrooms, and teenagers
direct-filed to adult court.
We will encourage group discussions of how to tell clients’
stories using not just words but artistic imagery. For law students, a primary
objective is to encourage them to understand, empathize, and engage in advocacy
on behalf of marginalized communities to change laws on a systemic
level. For artists and art students, a main objective is to introduce them
to legal concepts in their creation of artistic work to advance social justice
advocacy, in collaboration with lawyers, clients, and communities. The
goal is to encourage clinicians to import these synergies into their legal
advocacy, enabling lawyers and artists to work elastically across disciplines
to engage clients and their communities to problem-solve, plan, and organize
for legal and policy reform.
This discussion, co-presented and moderated by two Miami Law faculty members, Bernard Perlmutter, a law school clinician and Xavier Cortada, a socially engaged artist and lawyer, examines collaborations between a child advocacy clinic, the artist, and clients of the clinic in building communities that empower clients through artistic expression. The aim is to encourage law students, artists and art students to join forces in creative community collaborations to advance social and legal justice reforms on behalf of marginalized clients. To prompt discussion on how to foster collaborations of this type, we will give a short presentation on our two decades of collaboration using art to enhance direct representation of and systemic advocacy for foster children involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals, juveniles shackled in courtrooms, and teenagers direct-filed to adult court.
We will encourage group discussions of how to tell clients’ stories using not just words but artistic imagery. For law students, a primary objective is to encourage them to understand, empathize, and engage in advocacy on behalf of marginalized communities to change laws on a systemic level. For artists and art students, a main objective is to introduce them to legal concepts in their creation of artistic work to advance social justice advocacy, in collaboration with lawyers, clients, and communities. The goal is to encourage clinicians to import these synergies into their legal advocacy, enabling lawyers and artists to work elastically across disciplines to engage clients and their communities to problem-solve, plan, and organize for legal and policy reform.