Toward a Universal Visual Language of Law

There is a legal language that is more universal than text, that can communicate across language and cultural barriers: it is the language of visual images. Visual communication of law provides a means to transmit the content, meaning, and implications of law and legal analysis in legal documents and multimodal communications that are accessible and understandable not only to those trained in the law or highly literate in the dominant written language of the communication, but also to those whose basic language skills in the dominant language of the communication would otherwise not allow them to receive or understand the legal advice, rights, or requirements contained in the communication.

In the very near future, visual legal rhetoric is anticipated to become a standard part of legal practice not just in litigation, but also in transactional practice and all areas of law because of the communicative and rhetorical power of visual media. The goal of this Article is to apply the lens of visual legal rhetoric, visual literacy analysis, visual cultural studies, and mise en scène analysis to evaluate and critique representative examples of legal communications that use visual images as a means to overcome language and cultural barriers. I hope to draw lessons in visual communication for lawyers, judges, legislators, and regulators to encourage them to make visuals a more integral part of legal works in transactional, litigation, legislative, regulatory, and legal informational contexts. Visuals can overcome barriers in communication that words alone cannot, and visual legal works can be made more universal in their communication, interpretation, performance, and enforcement.