Carolina Garcia Jayaram, J.D. ’04
CAROLINA GARCIA JAYARAM, ’04
CHAMPION of the
By Mary Lynn Lyke
MI A MI LAW maga zi ne | FA LL 201 4
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ven at a tender age, Carolina Garcia Jayaram, J.D. ’04, looked at creative endeavors with an entrepreneurial eye. She was only eight years old when she and a friend launched one of their early startups—a T-shirt business, doomed to failure. It took them six hours to make one shirt. “Highly untenable,” said Jayaram, now CEO of Chicago-based United States Artists, one of the art world’s largest grant-making advocacy organizations. Artistic and ambitious, she was also, she admits, an “argumentative child”—destined to be a competitive debater, and, one day, a lawyer. But the arts came first. In 1995, she entered the New School University, majoring in literature and creative writing. “I wanted to be a poet, but I realized it was unlikely I’d be successful,” she said. After several ventures—including cooking school and a start-up catering service—she realized her ultimate vision was to run her own non-profit. She decided law
ARTS
school would give her the background to do it. “I knew I did not want the life of a lawyer in a firm, but I thought a legal education would give me a different kind of depth, understanding, and set of tools for the things I wanted to do.” Her affinity for the arts—and the business of the arts—led to a different kind of startup her first year at Miami Law. In the wake of the newly arrived Art Basel Miami Beach art fair, Jayaram’s artist friends were beginning to gain critical attention and gallery representation. She saw that they were unprepared for the business legalities surrounding their new success: the negotiation of contracts, the protection of intellectual property rights, and vital business skills. So she did what any high-energy, visionary, super-achiever would do: She helped start a non-profit dedicated to providing artists legal aid. Her partner at LegalArt was fellow student Lara O’Neill, J.D. ’02. Their goal was for lawyers to work one-on-one with artists on a pro bono, reduced rate, or barter basis. “We were the brokers. We would go to a community of lawyers and ask, ‘Who is interested in this case?’ then set up relationships between artists and lawyers,” she said. “Unlike other legal aid organizations, we helped artists on all legal matters, not only those related to their art practice. That part was very important to us.” After graduation, Jayaram continued to work several years directing LegalArt, which has evolved today into Miami’s thriving Cannonball arts organization. She remains an active board member at Cannonball, which provides not only in-house legal advice, but professional
development and live/work space for local, national, and international artists, curators, and scholars. The marriage of the arts and the law would prove long-lasting for Jayaram, who, a decade after graduating from Miami Law, has earned a reputation as a ferocious arts champion, fighting for economic prosperity, support structures, and serious respect for artists. “She has taken her passion for the work of creative individuals and her belief in their power to transform communities and is transforming the way in which America’s artists are being recognized and supported,” said Michael Spring, director of the MiamiDade County Department of Cultural Affairs. Jayaram was drawn to Miami Law by the school’s strong commitment to public service and community outreach. “A lot of law schools tend to be inward-looking,” she said. “The University of Miami School of Law is not like that. It seeks to improve the community and inspires its students to do the same.” She took part in the Center for Ethics and Public Service’s clinic program, working on an innovative partnership between the law and architecture schools that helped create a land trust for Coconut Grove’s historic district. Her commitment to community outreach earned her fellowships with both the Miami Foundation’s prestigious Miami Fellows Initiative and the law school’s HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, where professors applauded her work on LegalArt. “She was extremely dedicated and tenacious, working across disciplines to build the non-profit,” said HOPE director Marni