Casual legal studies: art during law school, 1990 supplement
Luke Cole & K.A.
Cambridge: HL$, Inc. Press, 1990
HOLLIS 2191559
Keith Aoki (1955-2011, J.D. 1990) created this graphic depiction of life as a student at Harvard Law School (HLS), and published it under the name HL$, Inc. in 1989 and 1990. The 1990 supplement includes a guest comic by Luke Winthrop Cole (1962-2009, J.D. 1989). The comic pokes fun at the formalized institutional environment of HLS, the conservatism of administrators, and the “over-mystification” of legal reasoning and critical theory. It observes class divides, sycophantic and pretentious classmates, and other aspects of HLS life seen through the eyes of a “normative chameleon” trying to fit in. As students, both Cole and Aoki served on the editorial board for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, in addition to participating in other student organizations.
The title “Casual Legal Studies” was a play on “critical legal studies,” a movement of leftist legal academics and students that developed in the late 1970s and 1980s. Learn about HLS faculty contributions to critical legal studies.