Amicus #3: A Conversation with Raymond Perez

This is the third episode of Amicus, the Yale Undergraduate Law Journal's podcast, which features candid conversations with leaders at the forefront of the legal field. In this episode, host Joel Vincent sits down with Raymond Perez, a 3L J.D. candidate at Yale Law School and Student Director of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic.K-JD and First Impressions of Law School: Perez came straight from undergraduate study to Yale Law School, making the European Court of Human Rights his first full-time legal experience. He reflects on what it means to enter law school without prior legal work experience and what he wishes he had known going in.Press Freedom and the MFIA Clinic: As Student Director of Media Freedom and Information Access (MFIA) Clinic, Perez discusses what it means to be a law student directing active litigation and what each case signals about the state of press freedom today.Satirical Expression and the European Court of Human Rights: During his Kirby Simon Fellowship in Strasbourg, France, Perez researched the legal protection of satirical expression under the European Convention on Human Rights, a project that intersected with his own background as a stand-up comedian in college. He explores how humor functions as a legal category and what American and European law can learn from each other.Free Expression in a Changing Landscape: Drawing on his work at MFIA and his time abroad, Perez offers his perspective on whether the First Amendment is holding in the current political moment, and where he sees the most serious threats to press freedom and government transparency.What's Next: Perez shares where his curiosity about the world, and his goal of visiting all 1,223 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, might take him after Yale Law.The views expressed by Raymond Perez do not purport to represent the views of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, if any.