Course title:

Arts and Advocacy

What sparked the thought for the course?

I enjoy going to art museums with lawyers and law students. First, I incorporated these trips into the courses I teach on persuasion, creativity, and artificial intelligence. But the response was so positive—and the conversation so wealthy and interesting—that “Arts and Advocacy” became its own course.

What will likely be examined within the course?

Students examine the mental, emotional, and skilled overlaps between the craft of presenting art and the craft of presenting arguments. Both activities are about storytelling. Both are about putting yourself in another person's shoes. And each rely upon the proper balance between evidence and emotion, completeness and conciseness, provocation and restraint.

Why is that this course relevant now?

Advocacy—whether within the courtroom, the boardroom, or in private discussions and debates—is in some ways an act of curation. It is essential to spotlight topics and establish connections. It requires an informed selection. It places great emphasis on context, contrast and a daring, transformative vision.

Above all, advocacy, like art, is concerning the ability to concurrently engage with diverse audiences and get them to have a look at legal issues, people, and ideologies in latest ways. We can all learn rather a lot about the best way to develop and use this skill by spending time with the art collected – and strategically arranged – in museums.

What is a crucial lesson from the course?

The best advocates function helpful guides. They don't force their perspective on people. They don't beat us down with dogma or bombard us with irrelevant details. Instead, like expert museum curators, they deal with directing our attention in ways in which ultimately enable us to make more informed, evidence-based judgments and decisions.

The goal is education, not coercion.

What materials does the course include?

Part of the fun of this course is the always dynamic curriculum, because the museums we visit are always updating their collections and offering latest exhibitions.

We saw that Van Gogh in America Exhibition on the Detroit Institute of Arts. We saw pieces of Kara Walker And Kehinde Wiley on the University of Michigan Art Museum. We even managed to incorporate works by Monet, Rothko and Picasso.

What does the course prepare students for?

Become higher visual advocates. Trial attorneys have to be good visual advocates, especially when presenting evidence. Dealmakers must be good visual advocates, especially when presenting projects. This also applies to anyone giving presentations in person, online or in a hybrid format.

If you simply ever act in sentences and paragraphs, you miss opportunities to speak your message – and connect with people – in other creative, memorable ways.