Thank you for visiting the Filmmakers Legal Clinic site!

The Filmmakers Legal Clinic (“FLC” or “Clinic”) provides free transactional, intellectual property and First Amendment legal services to visual advocates, filmmakers and video journalists working to highlight social justice issues and expand the stories that are told through film.

We aim to empower independent filmmakers and social justice advocates by helping them navigate contractual, legal, and business issues with greater ease. Traditional legal services are an expense that can prove prohibitive and may keep many filmmakers from completing their projects. This outcome disproportionately impacts visual advocates from underserved and underrepresented communities. The Clinic’s services, including this website and our social media channels (“Services”), are designed to significantly reduce this barrier to entry. Our goal is simple: enable diverse voices and points of view to reach broader audiences.

In keeping with the Clinic’s mission, there are some important conditions you must understand and agree to when using our Services, as follows:

1. The materials, including forms, agreements, videos and other information (“Materials”) available on this website or any of the clinic’s social media channels (“Site”) are provided for reference purposes only. Although Clinic teams have crafted them with care with the goal of illustrating basic legal concepts, they are by design generic and have limited application. Legal services are expensive because they are bespoke. It is very possible that the Materials on the Site will not serve your particular interests or fulfill your specific needs. Accordingly, reliance on the Materials is at your own risk.
2. Your use of the Site or any Material (including completion of any client application form) does not create an attorney client relationship or any fiduciary obligation. We will not have an attorney-client relationship with you until and unless you and the Clinic enter into a formal agreement of engagement.
3. The Site and Material are copyrighted works owned by the Clinic. You may use the Site and Materials to educate yourself and in connection with, or in furtherance of, a film or piece of visual advocacy that highlights a social justice issue, consistent with the Clinic’s mission. This generally refers to films or visual advocacy projects that center either (a) diverse and underrepresented communities or (b) civic engagement or attacks on democratic ideals. Contact the Clinic if you are unsure if your proposed use qualifies or if you need clarification.
4. Except as expressly set forth herein, no part of the Site or any Material may be copied, posted, reproduced, adapted, translated, used in AI, or otherwise distributed without express written permission from the Clinic.
5. We may update these Terms of Use and/or revoke your permission to use the Site or any Material at any time.

If you are permitted to use the Materials pursuant to the above, consider letting us know and giving the Clinic proper attribution, for example by thanking “The Filmmakers Legal Clinic at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law” in your credits.

Please contact filmmakerslegalclinic@yu.edu with further questions.