The Filmmakers Legal Clinic (FLC), formerly known as the Indie Film Clinic, provides free transactional, intellectual property, and First Amendment legal services to visual advocates, filmmakers and video journalists working to move the social justice needle and diversify the stories that are told through media.
We help filmmakers navigate contractual, legal, and business issues so that their important films can be made and distributed. To empower creators, the FLC provides individual client representation, educational services, "know your rights" trainings for community partners and pop-up legal clinics.
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Filmmakers Legal Clinic Director
Professor Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin
Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin is a Clinical Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School, where she teaches and directs the Filmmakers Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal services to filmmakers and video journalists as well as training on legal issues to filmmakers in the United States and around the world. She is also the director of the Center for Visual Advocacy, which serves as a hub for activists, artists, academics and professionals seeking to harness the power of visual advocacy to move the social justice needle. She is also the founding director of the Program on Leadership at the Heyman Center for Corporate Governance. Previously, Professor Greenberg-Kobrin served as dean of students and lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School. She teaches in the areas of intellectual property, transactional law, corporations, negotiation, and leadership. As a leading film lawyer, Professor Greenberg-Kobrin has lectured at film festivals around the world on issues related to copyright, production, distribution and licensing.
The Filmmakers Legal Clinic provides free transactional, intellectual property and First Amendment legal services to visual advocates, filmmakers and video journalists working to move the social justice needle and diversify the stories that are told through media. We help filmmakers navigate contractual, legal and business issues so that their important films can be made and distributed. To empower creators, the FLC provides individual client representation, educational services, "know your rights" trainings for community partners and pop-up legal clinics.
Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin, the director of the Filmmakers Legal Clinic and associate clinical professor of law, comes to Cardozo having served as the dean of students at Columbia Law School since 2005, where she also taught courses in deals, negotiation and leadership. Clinic students represent clients pro bono on a range of issues critical to any film production, including the drafting and negotiation of entity formation documents and agreements; talent, crew and producer agreements; depiction releases; music, film clip and artwork licenses; legal opinion letters on fair use and First Amendment issues; and other advice depending on the context of the film and the needs of the client.
Client films have screened in leading U.S. and international film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale, South by Southwest, Rotterdam, New Directors/New Films, the Tribeca Film Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the Los Angeles Film Festival, Hot Docs, DOC NYC and more. The Filmmakers Legal Clinic receives generous support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. The Illumination Fund’s support helps Cardozo Law expand critical legal resources to the New York City film community.
This past year was a transformational one for the Filmmakers Legal Clinic. Our film-makers emerged from the pandemic with renewed energy to tell the stories that had been hard to film in the past few years. Questions of democracy, equity, climate, history, and international and social disruption arose as our filmmakers worked to tell the stories that would draw attention to these issues.
Legal Counsel from Start to Screen
FLC counsels filmmakers, artists and video journalists, provides education and training, supports partner organizations, and showcases important social justice films. Advocacy Initiatives include: Client Representation, Legal Trainings, Pop Up Clinics and FLC Film Series
Featured Alumni
Ryan Grandeau
A graduate of Tufts University (B.A.) and Cardozo Law School (J.D. ), Ryan Grandeau is an associate in Morrison & Foerster’s Finance and Projects department. In addition to working as a teaching assistant for Professor Greenberg-Kobrin during Law School, Ryan interned for Judge Joseph A. Greenaway of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He was also a Submissions editor for the Cardozo Law Review.
Elizabeth Rogers
Elizabeth Rogers represents private and public companies at Baker Botts in corporate and transactional matters. She was an Articles Editor for the Cardozo Law Review, a teaching assistant and research assistant, and a student fellow with the Filmmaker’s Legal Clinic. Prior to law school, Elizabeth worked in non-profit fundraising.