Life of the Law

By Nancy Mullane / Panoply

What's Life of the Law about?

Law is alive. It doesn’t live in books and words. It thrives in how well we understand and apply it to everyday life.

We ask questions, find answers, and publish what we discover in feature episodes and live storytelling.

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Life of the Law episodes:

09.26.2018
139: Release Day [Rebroadcast] & Special Announcement
It's official, and it's one more amazing step into the future at Life of the Law: we have a new Executive Director. Six years after Nancy Mullane, Tom Hilbink and Shannon Heffernan launched the first episode of Life of the...
06.26.2018
138: Call NOW! [Rebroadcast]
When things go bad all you need to do is pick up the phone and CALL. Since the US Supreme Court allowed lawyers to advertise in the 1970s, practices like these have skyrocketed, with often shoddily-produced results. Are tacky lawyer...
06.19.2018
137: Law and Society Association Conference Highlights
Where does one find a discussion of research on abduction for forced marriage amidst West and Central African conflicts? Where does one find research on how ‘yes means yes’ policies on university campuses have affected the college students intended to...
06.06.2018
136: New Voices Series - Law Students Take on Immigration
Immigration law is a mystery. Unless you’re an immigrant seeking relief under the law, or you’re an immigration law attorney, it’s an unknown. Then, earlier this year, Karla McKanders, a professor of immigration law at Vanderbilt Law School sent us...
05.28.2018
136: New Voices Series - Law Students Take on Immigration
Immigration law is a mystery. Unless you’re an immigrant seeking relief under the law, or you’re an immigration law attorney, it’s an unknown. Then, earlier this year, Karla McKanders, a professor of immigration law at Vanderbilt Law School sent us...
05.15.2018
135: In-Studio: Peril and Promise of Genetic Testing
How curious are you about your genetic makeup? There are hundreds of companies that provide direct-to-consumer tests that promise your genealogy, deep ancestry and biogeographical ancestry. Other tests offer genetic information about your health and traits, with some promising your...
05.01.2018
134: GATTACA REVISITED - Up the Borrowed Ladder
Some two decades ago, filmmaker Andrew Nicols wrote and directed GATTACA a sci-fi movie that presented a future in which individuals and society were at risk from having gained access to, and control of, our genetic code. Today, 20 years after...
04.17.2018
133: In-Studio: Police, Race and Fatal Force
Mothers, brothers, sons and daughters in cities across the country are suffering from the loss of a loved one to police use of fatal force. In 2017 The Washington Post reports police officers in the United States shot and killed...
04.02.2018
132: Death by Police: A Mother's (audio) Diary
Police officers throughout the U.S. shoot and kill unarmed people, in Sacramento, Detroit, New Orleans and in Madison. The Washington Post reports 987 people were shot and killed by police in 2017, sixty-eight of them were unarmed. There are marches...
03.20.2018
131: LIVE LAW SF - Initial Public Offering
This week Life of the Law presents LIVE LAW... stories from people living with the rapid fire shifts that come with tech in the Bay Area, folks who are pushing back against the gentrification and alienation to try to make...
03.06.2018
130: Inside San Quentin - Moonlight
What would men in prison say, if we just listened? This week, Life of the Law presents a new INSIDE SAN QUENTIN episode - conversations inside San Quentin produced exclusively by men incarcerated inside the prison. We have laptops and can...
02.20.2018
129: Uganda Part 4 - In Studio
Over the past month, Life of the Law's team of journalists and scholars have published a three part series of feature investigative reports on Uganda, examining the long-term impact of the violence committed on the people of the East African...
02.07.2018
128: Uganda Part 3 - Justice
For more than 20 years, rebels with the Lord's Resistance Army abducted 60,000 people from towns and villages in Northern Uganda, many of them young girls and boys who were then forced to fight, kill, and loot. Young girls spent...
01.24.2018
127: Uganda Part 2 - Escape
For more than 20 years, rebels with the Lords Resistance Army abducted 60,000 people, from towns and villages in Northern Uganda, many of them young girls and boys who were forced to fight, kill, loot and have sex with rebel...
01.10.2018
126: Uganda Part 1 - Abducted
Today man named Dominic Ongwen is on trial before the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands. The 42 year old Ugandan is charged with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Northern Uganda. Ongwen is the only commander with...
12.27.2017
125: A Whole 'nother World - San Quentin Live (2017 Holiday Rebroadcast)
On Saturday night, Dec 5, 2015 more than 200 people filled the pews of the Catholic chapel inside San Quentin State Prison for a first-ever uncensored storytelling event behind the prison walls. Together, inmates and volunteers, officers and staff gathered...
12.12.2017
124: Traditions
Traditions. We all have them. Some good and, well, some not so good. Think for a minute. When you were a kid, what were your holiday traditions? Do you still follow some of them today? Put up lights? Bake special...
11.28.2017
123: The Battle Over Your Right to Vote
The polls got it wrong. What matters in the end, on election day, is who has the right to vote and who goes to the polls to cast their ballot. Due to strict voter ID laws, not all Americans are...
11.14.2017
122: Government Ghost
2017 has been a terrible year for tens of thousands of people. Fires in northern California and record-setting torrential hurricanes and floods in Texas and Puerto Rico have meant that families have lost their homes and in many cases all...
10.31.2017
121: In-Studio - Brutally Ruthless
"As incompetent and bumbling as the Trump Administration has been in so many areas, they have been brutally ruthless on immigration." -- Jose Chito Vela, Immigration Attorney and Candidate for Texas State Legislature It’s been a year since the Presidential election...
10.17.2017
120: Life Un-DACAmented (Re-Broadcast)
Nearly two years ago on January 26, 2016, Life of the Law presented Un-DACA-mented, a report on the Obama Administration's DACA Program, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program, begun in 2012 offered undocumented immigrants who came to the...
10.03.2017
119: Live Law Detroit
Look around. Change is happening. People you know and people you pass on the street are in transition. They are transforming their lives. Unless you stop to hear their story, you may miss it. Each year new and former Soros Justice...
09.19.2017
118: In Studio - Global Intellectual Property
All over the world people create. Music, art, literature. But is their creative work protected? Sure there are international copyright laws, but are they enforced? And if not, what then? This week our team took to the studio for a...
09.05.2017
117: The Gift & Curse of Music
As a child, Serge Turnier fell in love with the sounds of the carnival bands that would pass near his house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Now one of the top music producers in the country, Turnier is faced with the reality...
08.22.2017
116: In Studio - Prosecuting Discretion
"Every criminal trial is a competition between the prosecution and the defense. The judge has relatively less dominant role than in other countries and a lot of times, we have the guilt and innocence of people decided by juries, unless...
08.08.2017
115: Ten Hours to Twenty Years
It all started out as a plan to steal some comic books, sell them and split the cash. That was before a busted lip, a heart attack, and federal prosecutors stepped in. Reporter Mary Lee Williams, a graduate of UC Berkeley...
07.25.2017
114: Inside San Quentin - To Be Heard
It's been more than 45 years since a thousand inmates at Attica Prison (Correctional Facility) in New York took control of the prison. In her 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning book, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971...
07.11.2017
113: In Studio
America is a nation that locks up more people per capita than any other country in the world. The Sentencing Project reports 2.2 million people are incarcerated in America's prisons. That's a 500% increase over the past 40 years. The...
06.28.2017
112: In Studio
What does it take to win an NBA Championship? On Monday night, June 12th, Oakland's Golden State Warriors, aka "Dub Nation" silenced the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the 2017 NBA Championship. Three days later, thousands of diverse, loyal, cheering, screaming...
06.13.2017
111: Warriors
It's official! The Golden State Warriors are the 2017 NBA Champions! Life of the Law honors the team and each of the players with this special episode. One day a year, the Golden State Warriors' coaches, managers, and players go behind...
06.02.2017
110: In Studio
What does color of skin have to do with equal access to justice in America? The Equal Protection Clause, part of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which took effect in 1868, provides that no state shall deny to any...
05.23.2017
109: Unequal Protection - Pt. 2
Last time on Life of the Law we presented Unequal Protection - Part 1, the story of Warren McCleskey’s unsuccessful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. McCleskey argued that his death sentence by the state of Georgia had been prejudiced...
05.03.2017
108: Unequal Protection - Pt. 1
America is a country plagued by racism. Culturally, socially, economically. But what about in the courts? 30 years ago, Warren McCleskey, a black man on Georgia’s death row, took proof to the US Supreme Court that his trial and sentence...
04.19.2017
107: In Studio
Welcome to In-Studio from Life of the Law. This week we're talking about our most recent episode Mother and Son, the role of corporal punishment in the house, and the recent United Airlines situation. Each month we present an investigative feature...
04.05.2017
106: Mother and Son
Prison is a walled off, secret world, where inmates and officers live a sort of altered reality. For the past 10 years Life of the Law's Executive Producer, Nancy Mullane, has been reporting on the people inside San Quentin State...
03.21.2017
105: In Studio
Want to know how heroin treatment centers in Canada, the Affordable Care Act, President Trump's new budget and Henrietta Lacks all fit into one conversation? Welcome to In-Studio from Life of the Law. Each month we present an investigative feature report...
03.08.2017
104: Heroin Town
Heroin is illegal in Canada. And just like in the United States many doctors and treatment centers treat heroin addiction by providing a legal alternative, such as methadone. But methadone treatment doesn’t always work. So what do you do? These people...
02.21.2017
103: In Studio
Welcome to In-Studio from Life of the Law. Each month we present an investigative feature report, and two weeks later our team of scholars, journalists, producers and guests will meet up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to...
02.07.2017
102: Radio Silenced
In April of 2014, federal agents raided the studios of 106.1 TOUCH FM in Boston, Massachusetts. They took turntables, microphones, transmitters, pretty much everything. The reason was simple: the radio station was operating without a license. But that raises questions:...
01.24.2017
101: In Studio
At Life of the Law, we're going to shake things up a bit so our team can jump into the national conversation that's taking place about the law. We're going to ask questions and hopefully get some answers, or at...
01.10.2017
100: Live Law NSF
The US Constitution sets the rules for how our our society is governed. Lawyers and advocates, legislators and lobbyists, judges and courts work to enforce it, or change it. All the while, legal and social scholars work behind the scenes...
12.20.2016
99: Shaken
Tonia Miller lost control and shook her baby to death. That’s what prosecutors said. Miller denied it, but a Michigan jury wasn’t convinced and convicted her of murder. At 19 years old, Miller was separated from her family, sent to...
12.13.2016
98: Fair Fight for a Fair Court
The 2016 elections are over. But what did we learn from the results? Over the past 11 months, Life of the Law’s team of reporters, editors and scholars have been taking a hard took at how money and an increase...
11.29.2016
97: Fair Fight for a Fair Court
The 2016 elections are over. But what did we learn from the results? Over the past 11 months, Life of the Law’s team of reporters, editors and scholars have been taking a hard took at how money and an increase...
11.16.2016
96: Live Law San Quentin: Hope
On Saturday, November 12, 2016 members of the San Quentin Wednesday Night Creative Writing Class presented the stories they have been writing, to fellow inmates and guests inside the prison’s education center. The event, the Eleventh Annual Public Reading, was...
11.01.2016
95: Judges v. Attack Ads
Judges across the country are in a fight to keep their jobs. You see, Unlike judges appointed to federal courts, many state judges have to run in elections to either get voted onto the court or keep their seat on...
10.18.2016
94: Courting Voters - Pt 4: A Fair Fight for a Fair Court
On October 4th, the justices on the Kansas Supreme Court traveled to Hutchinson, a small town in central Kansas. The seven men and women donned their black robes and took the bench in a community college auditorium to hear oral...
10.04.2016
93: Last Count
Douglas Collier is serving a life sentence inside San Quentin State Prison. For years he shared a 9x4 foot cell with his friend Tony, a fellow inmate. One day Tony couldn’t stop coughing. His arteries were clogged. Several months later,...
09.20.2016
92: Live Law Phoenix - Borders
Each summer, people from all around the country gather for the Soros Justice Fellowship Conference -- three days of meetings, conversations, and workshops by scholars, journalists, attorneys, and advocates working on projects that explore the criminal justice system in America. This year six...
09.06.2016
91: Death on a Dairy
“Being trampled, being struck by livestock, being struck by vehicles, backed over. People have fallen into and drowned in manure pits.” - Steve Kaplan, OSHA Turns out small dairy farms can be some of the most dangerous, unregulated places to work. There are...

What's Life of the Law about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Life of the Law episodes:

139: Release Day [Rebroadcast] & Special Announcement

138: Call NOW! [Rebroadcast]

137: Law and Society Association Conference Highlights

136: New Voices Series - Law Students Take on Immigration

136: New Voices Series - Law Students Take on Immigration

135: In-Studio: Peril and Promise of Genetic Testing

134: GATTACA REVISITED - Up the Borrowed Ladder

133: In-Studio: Police, Race and Fatal Force

132: Death by Police: A Mother's (audio) Diary

131: LIVE LAW SF - Initial Public Offering

130: Inside San Quentin - Moonlight

129: Uganda Part 4 - In Studio

128: Uganda Part 3 - Justice

127: Uganda Part 2 - Escape

126: Uganda Part 1 - Abducted

125: A Whole 'nother World - San Quentin Live (2017 Holiday Rebroadcast)

124: Traditions

123: The Battle Over Your Right to Vote

122: Government Ghost

121: In-Studio - Brutally Ruthless

120: Life Un-DACAmented (Re-Broadcast)

119: Live Law Detroit

118: In Studio - Global Intellectual Property

117: The Gift & Curse of Music

116: In Studio - Prosecuting Discretion

115: Ten Hours to Twenty Years

114: Inside San Quentin - To Be Heard

113: In Studio

112: In Studio

111: Warriors

110: In Studio

109: Unequal Protection - Pt. 2

108: Unequal Protection - Pt. 1

107: In Studio

106: Mother and Son

105: In Studio

104: Heroin Town

103: In Studio

102: Radio Silenced

101: In Studio

100: Live Law NSF

99: Shaken

98: Fair Fight for a Fair Court

97: Fair Fight for a Fair Court

96: Live Law San Quentin: Hope

95: Judges v. Attack Ads

94: Courting Voters - Pt 4: A Fair Fight for a Fair Court

93: Last Count

92: Live Law Phoenix - Borders

91: Death on a Dairy