It is hard to fully convey the impact that the Laidlaw Scholars Program has had on both my personal and professional development over the past two years. Beginning in the classroom with our Community Research and Leadership course in January 2025, Laidlaw has given me a unique outlet to explore the systems, ethical questions, and communities that shape our world from an interdisciplinary perspective. I am incredibly grateful for all that this space has given me.
Stepping away from the classroom and into the field, my first summer assignment took me to Berlin, where I encountered documentary research and fieldwork for the first time. In addition to being incredibly enjoyable, the experience expanded my understanding of what research could look like and how many different forms it could take. Studying Abenteuerspielplätze (adventure playgrounds) as spaces connected to larger questions about climate change, autonomy, and public life taught me the value of approaching complex problems from unexpected angles. Documentary photography and conversations with Berlin residents challenged traditional ideas of what research should look like and showed me the importance of questioning the systems that define which methods and perspectives are considered legitimate. More broadly, the experience taught me not to allow myself—or the questions I care about—to be confined to a single discipline or conventional approach.
Alongside our Abenteuerspielplätze research, I also began working on Pelznickel, a documentary photography book that complicates the distinctions we draw between places, identities, and ways of being. While in Berlin, I helped organize and shape the project’s extensive photographic archive, which moves fluidly between the real and the imagined, the human and the animal, and the wild and the ordered. I found the work so meaningful that I chose to remain involved long after the summer ended, continuing to help develop the project’s title, shape the book’s structure and format, organize and scan its photographs, and prepare proposals for potential publishers. We are now bringing the project into its next stage, transforming the photographs into both a cohesive book and an installation-based exhibition.
My time in Berlin also helped clarify what I wanted from my Leadership-in-Practice summer. Working closely with photographers and helping transform an extensive archive into a book made me think more deeply about what it takes for artists to maintain ownership of their work, receive appropriate credit, and sustain a creative career. As someone interested in pursuing law, I wanted to understand how legal knowledge could support the creative communities I had come to value through my research. This led me to seek out Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA), where I could continue working with artists while exploring the role of public-interest law in protecting their work and livelihoods.
At VLA, I supported artists and arts organizations navigating copyright, trademarks, contracts, business formation, and disputes. In addition to assisting with daily client intake, I followed twelve matters more extensively through document review, legal research, attorney consultations, and resolution. These matters included an author attempting to recover unpaid royalties and publishing rights, a musician evaluating an agreement involving compensation and ownership of a master recording, and an entertainment company seeking to maintain trademarks connected to its work supporting Deaf creatives. Each matter required me to understand not only the relevant law but also what the work, business, or agreement represented to the client.
These cases showed me how directly legal protections affect an artist’s ability to control their work and sustain a career. I saw that identifying a legal right was often only the beginning. A client’s ability to act on that right would also depend on the documents they had retained, the resources of the opposing party, and whether affordable representation was available. It troubled me that artists could invest years in their work while remaining vulnerable to unclear contracts, unequal bargaining power, or a lack of legal guidance. Working within those limitations taught me all the different ways to recognize progress in this line of work. Many cases did not reach a neat resolution during my time at VLA, but helping a client talk through their legal matter or prepare their memo for a referral could still move them closer to protecting their work.
Through VLA’s MediateArt training, I also learned how mediation can offer artists an alternative to costly litigation. Mediators help parties move beyond their stated positions, identify the interests underlying a conflict, and develop solutions that preserve both personal agency and professional relationships. Practicing this role expanded my understanding of leadership by showing me the benefits of fostering the conditions for people to communicate honestly and determine a path forward together.
Finally, alongside a fellow summer associate, I was able to develop and present Legal Issues in Music, our publicly available class covering copyright, performing-rights organizations, fair use, master ownership, and emerging AI legislation. Preparing this class required deciding which information would be most useful to artists without oversimplifying the law or obscuring important risks. It was especially rewarding to draw from issues I had encountered throughout the summer and turn them into practical guidance that could help other artists recognize what to question, negotiate, and protect. It was the perfect end to my Leadership-in-Practice experience.
There are countless other ways that Laidlaw has shaped my time at Duke, from helping curate Musha-e: Japan’s Warrior Prints, an exhibition at the Nasher Museum of Art, to becoming more involved with the Kenan Ethics Living Learning Community and exploring questions of art, community, and ethics in New Orleans. Together, these experiences have encouraged me to cross disciplinary boundaries, question established systems, and remain accountable to the communities connected to my work. None of these opportunities would have been possible without my time as a Laidlaw Scholar.
Laidlaw has taught me to understand global citizenship as a lifelong practice of listening across differences, questioning the systems that shape communities, and using what I learn to contribute responsibly wherever I go. As I look beyond the formal conclusion of the program, I hope to carry these lessons into law school and beyond by continuing to approach leadership with curiosity, humility, and care. I am deeply grateful to the mentors, peers, and community partners who challenged me, supported me, and made these experiences possible. Thank you again and I’m excited to see what’s next for this cohort!