Criminal Justice Through a Creative Lens feat. Katherin Hervey (October 2021)

8 hours ago
3 min read

Katherin Hervey is an award-winning filmmaker, artist, former public defender, and co-founder of On the Border Films. In this episode, Katherin shares how her legal background shaped The Prison Within, why storytelling became her form of advocacy, and how creativity helped her continue the work of justice outside traditional practice.

About This Episode

Background

Katherin Hervey’s career has always lived at the intersection of creativity, justice, and human complexity. Before law school, she worked in art direction, videography, publishing, and filmmaking, including as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Shades of Contradiction, an arts and culture magazine rooted in critical thinking and creative action. Her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington also reflected that same curiosity, as she designed her own major in Cross-cultural Communication in America.

“I have a very rebellious spirit. I didn't want to do a regular degree," shares Katherin Hervey on You Are A Lawyer.

That self-designed path allowed Katherin to study race, class, gender, psychology, sociology, and ethnicity in a way that felt expansive rather than formulaic. It also helped her begin developing the lens she would later bring to filmmaking: a deep interest in people, systems, harm, healing, and the stories that often sit beneath the surface.

Why Law School

Katherin attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles after years of creative work, and she entered law school knowing she wanted to work at the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office. Her legal path was rooted in service and advocacy, but law school itself felt jarring after spending so much of her life in creative and holistic spaces.

“Suddenly you're in law school and it's very rational and it moves very quickly," reflects Katherin Hervey on Episode 34 of You Are a Lawyer.

While law school gave her important tools, it also challenged the way she naturally moved through the world. Katherin wanted to question, analyze, and understand systems deeply, but law school often required speed, structure, and memorization. That tension helped clarify something important: she cared about justice, but she also needed creativity to remain central to her life.

What Can You Do with a Law Degree

Katherin’s law degree did not disappear when she left traditional practice. Instead, it became part of the foundation for her filmmaking. Her work as a public defender and later as a volunteer prison college instructor gave her the experience, language, and legitimacy to tell stories about incarceration with care and integrity.

“Had I not gone to law school, had I not become a public defender, none of this would have happened if I had not gone to law school," explains Katherin Hervey, on this episode of You Are a Lawyer.

That connection is especially clear in The Prison Within, her award-winning documentary about trauma, accountability, healing, and people sentenced to die in prison. Katherin’s legal background helped her gain access, understand the stakes, and approach the subject with both sensitivity and rigor. Her career shows how a law degree can shape advocacy even when the work moves from the courtroom to the screen.

Lawyer Side Hustles

Katherin’s creative work is not a side project anymore. It is her life’s work. As a filmmaker, director, producer, and artist, she uses storytelling to examine the hidden corners of the American landscape and the human experiences often ignored by traditional systems. The Prison Within premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, won Best Social Justice Documentary, and has since become part of legal education, prison curricula, and broader conversations about criminal justice reform.

“For The Prison Within, it was my baby, it came from my heart,” shares Katherin Hervey in Episode 34 of You Are a Lawyer.

Her filmmaking continues the advocacy she began as a public defender, but in a different form. Rather than arguing cases one at a time, Katherin creates work that invites audiences to question punishment, trauma, accountability, and humanity. Her path reflects a core YAAL truth: legal training can become a creative tool when lawyers allow themselves to follow the work that feels most honest.