Event Conflict Checking

Before requesting a date and time for a proposed event, students should review the YLS Events Calendar, YLS Academic Calendar, and Chaplains Multifaith Calendar as well as planned events in Yale Connect to avoid scheduling conflicts. In order to check for conflicts, add YLS OSA and YLS Events tags to the events search in Yale Connect. Then, add these same tags when creating the new event so other groups can plan accordingly. Due to limitations on space, staffing, and building resources, it is strongly recommended that organizers plan ahead and submit their events as early in the semester as possible. Please note that space is not guaranteed and rooms are not assigned until you receive written confirmation.

Questions about room reservations should be directed to YLSevents@yale.edu. Questions about events from student organizations should be sent to osa@yale.edu.

Classrooms in SLB may not be reserved during restricted dates. Students can only reserve space for study breaks and plan small off campus social gatherings during this time and may not schedule speaker/panel events.

Restricted Dates
Law School space is not available for event reservations during the following times.
- Add/Drop period
- YLS Orientation
- Official Yale Holidays
- Admitted Students Program
- Reading and Exam periods
- Spring break
- Easter weekend
- Election Day
- Commencement Day and the three days before the ceremony
- Summer and winter breaks except in rare instances approved by the administration
- Alumni Weekend

Submitting to Calendar
Once you receive written confirmation that your event is approved, submit details to the YLS Events Calendar or create your event on Yale Connect through your group's portal at least one week in advance of the event. To have the event loaded into the YLS Events Calendar, you must "tag" your event as "YLS Website". If you make updates to your event in Yale Connect, please email publicaffairs.law@yale.edu to have it updated on the YLS Events Calendar.

Please use 25Live for room reservations. For speaker events, you must select “event” and fill out the entire form in order for your request to be considered. Your reservation will not be confirmed without this information.

• Space for teaching is our first priority. Room reservations are subject to change based on the needs of the School. The Law School reserves the right to cap the number of events taking place each day to ensure there is adequate staffing and resources to support the functions of the School.

• Events must be entered individually.

• Events are, by default, open to the Yale Law School community only unless otherwise approved.
• Events open to the YLS community should be submitted at least two weeks in advance.
• Events open to the public or broader Yale community should be submitted at least three weeks in advance. In these cases, an RSVP tool must be used to have a list of all attendees in advance. See below for further details.

• Events in Baker Hall are open only to the YLS community due to swipe access, staffing availability, and the consideration of those who reside in the building.

• Mondays at the Law School are reserved for classes, the faculty workshop, law school lectures, and limited programming led by OSA and other student-facing departments. Student organizations and centers and programs cannot hold speaker events on Mondays. Faculty-led events on Mondays require approval from the Dean.

• Events that run past 5 p.m. or are proposed for weekends require approval to ensure the Law School has adequate staffing and resources to facilitate the event.

• The Law School is unable to facilitate events on Monday through Thursday during the semester that last more than two hours without special approval.

• At least one representative from all sponsoring groups must be present at their events, including a staff member from any centers or programs involved.

• All members of the community must have a current YLS stickers on their IDs (which are updated every fall semester with a new color) as they are required for entry to YLS community events. Students should pick up the current YLS sticker from the Registrar's Office.

• Violations of Yale Law School events policies may lead to the loss of room reservation/event privileges at the School by the sponsoring group.

Refer to the full event policies for complete information.

Please note: OSA-sponsored events are open to YLS students only, and students may need to swipe their YLS ID or show their ID sticker upon entry, or to receive YLS swag.

The Law School will only approve speaker events when we have the appropriate space to accommodate each event and can ensure the audience does not exceed room capacity. Maximum room capacity will be strictly enforced to adhere to fire and safety regulations. Requests for an overflow room should be submitted in advance to YLSevents@yale.edu and av.law@yale.edu and can only be accommodated when space and staffing is available.

Seminar rooms and small meeting rooms are reserved for meetings, classes, and reading groups. If you enter a reservation as a “meeting” and not an “event” in 25Live incorrectly, your reservation may not be approved and can be withdrawn. If your speaker(s) change, you must update your reservation. Please note, classes and reading groups are scheduled through the Registrar and Building Services outside of the 25Live system.

Events open to the public or press require special approval from Event Operations and Venue Services and the Office of Public Affairs. Please email publicaffairs.law@yale.edu and YLSevents@yale.edu before you submit your reservation in these cases.

Filming or photography on Yale Law School premises by the news media or other organizations/commercial entities is not permitted without prior permission from the Yale Law School Office of Public Affairs. No press may enter Law School buildings without prior permission from the Office of Public Affairs, including Yale Daily News.

Speakers may not bring their own photographers and videographers to cover their appearance at Yale Law School. Any film crews or photographers on the YLS campus who did not get clearance from OPA ahead of time will be asked to leave.

If the event is approved to be open to the public or press, organizers must set up a registration and check-in process and provide a student or staff organizer to help with the process. A list of speakers and attendees from outside the Yale community, alphabetized by last name, must be provided to YLSevents@yale.edu a minimum of 24 hours prior to the event.

Any questions about press, photography, and videography can be directed to publicaffairs.law@yale.edu.

An event cannot be publicized in any manner until the event organizer receives written confirmation that a room reservation is confirmed. In any publicity for an event (including, but not limited to: emails, newsletters, posters, and calendar listings), you are required to list the audience: YLS community only, Yale community, or public. You are required to secure proper approvals for those open to a broader audience. For events open to the broader Yale community and the public, include your RSVP link. See poster policy for more information.

Events by student groups and organizations are recorded or livestreamed only in rare situations and require approvals, fees, and forms to be completed in advance. Requests to livestream or record an event begin with the AV department. Livestream requests must also be approved by Public Affairs in advance. Speakers must sign a release form before a livestream can be set up or a recording can be made. Video editing and transcription fees apply. Release forms should be sent to publicaffairs.law@yale.edu.

Students are responsible for ordering tables and chairs for their events, as well as meeting the vendor for delivery and pick-up following the event. Please review detailed instructions for this process in the Ordering Tables and Chairs document provided by Building Services. Submit the invoice for payment through the Direct Vendor Invoice form.

Please consider the accessibility needs of panelists and attendees from the outset of your planning. Event publicity must include the following statement: If you or an event attendee requires disability-related accommodations, please contact [Event organizer or OSA or Student Accessibility Services] in advance of the event.

Details for planning an accessible event can be found in the Accessibility section of this handbook. Contact OSA (osa@yale.edu) or Student Accessibility Services (sas@yale.edu) with specific questions.

Students and student organizations are not permitted to sign anything on behalf of Yale. If a vendor/speaker requires a signature for a service agreement, contract, or payment, a Contract Review form must be submitted to OSA. A Certificate of Insurance (COI) for all venues will be required for documentation with form submission. OSA will work with the YLS Business Office and Yale Procurement Office to review and sign the contract. Please ensure you submit this form as soon as possible (at least 2-3 weeks in advance) to complete this process. The countersignature is required before any payments can be made.

For events with food, please coordinate directly with onsite YLS event staff prior to the event start time for setup and clearance requirements. Food and beverage staging shall only be as designated by event staff.

No food or beverages, including water, are permitted in the Morris L. Levinson Auditorium or the Lillian Goldman Law Library.

Alcoholic beverages are not permitted in SLB or non-residential spaces of Baker Hall without authorization. Authorization to serve alcohol at YLS is at the sole discretion of the School and will only be granted if the organizers have read and agreed to abide by the Yale University alcohol policy and the Law School rules governing the use of and serving of alcohol. No outside alcohol for personal or group use may be brought to campus without prior authorization.

All events on campus serving alcohol must hire a licensed caterer that has a TIPS-certified bartender. This bartender cannot be a current student. YLS reserves the right to request bartender certification.

All alcoholic beverages must be consumed in the event location. Alcohol cannot be taken out of the room where an event is held. Any event serving alcohol must also serve ample food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Student organizers should designate a responsible student lead during each event to maintain professional interactions and compliance with Yale policies.

Event planners are responsible for ensuring that reasonable meal requests are accommodated and should encourage attendees to share any special dietary accommodations (e.g., kosher, halal, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian).

Requests to use the Dining Hall or other designated communal spaces for student group events need to be approved. For any approved event in the Dining Hall or other designated communal spaces, the student group must contact Yale Catering to request services if the event requires cooking on-site. If food vendors require a contract for their services, submit a Contract Review form and allow 2-3 weeks for review.

The minimum drinking age in CT is 21. Individuals must be able to show proof of age by presenting a government-issued, photo identification in order to be served alcohol at a YLS event.

For students that are 21 years and older, we recognize our students to be responsible adults that are free to make their own choices on the use and consumption of alcohol. While the policy outlined below only pertains to alcohol in relation to school funding and resources, all students should carefully consider the impact of their choice to consume alcoholic beverages. If you suspect that you, or another student, is endangering themselves with their decisions around alcohol or other drugs, please know there are resources available to offer help and support.

For the purpose of this policy, "alcohol" and "alcoholic beverages" refer only to beer and wine. Seltzers, sake, juices and other canned cocktail drinks are acceptable, assuming there is not more than 5% alcohol content per 12oz.

No hard alcohol or liquor (regardless of alcohol percentage) will be covered by Yale funding. If any hard alcohol or liquor is purchased, even if by mistake, the charges will be the responsibility of the student(s) organizing the event. The school is entitled to and will seek reimbursement from students if school resources are used to purchase hard alcohol or liquor. Violation of the policy on hard alcohol and liquor and/or a student's failure to reimburse the school for purchases of hard alcohol and liquor will be documented. Infractions may affect the organization's status and future funding eligibility, as well as may result in discipline for the student(s) purchasing hard alcohol or liquor with YLS resources.

There is a two-drink maximum for alcoholic beverages per attendee, per day. A "drink" is defined as 5 oz of wine/sake or 12oz of beer or seltzer/canned beverages. "Day" is identified by the event start time and is defined by 12:00am-11:59pm. Student organizers will not receive reimbursements for purchase overages.

Calculations based on two-drinks per day, per attendee should be made by student organizers and utilized when determining how much alcohol to purchase.

When serving alcohol, non-alcoholic beverages and ample food must be made available to all guests. Per University policy, if food runs out, alcohol service must cease.

All events on campus serving alcohol must hire a licensed caterer that has a TIPS-certified bartender. This bartender cannot be a current student. YLS reserves the right to request bartender certification.

If the event is held off campus, at a public venue, it must be hosted at a location with a liquor permit and liability insurance. If the event is at a private location, then only the liability insurance is required.

For all student events, the presence and consumption of alcohol must not be the primary focus of the event or event-related advertising. Alcohol use is not to be promoted in event titles or description headings.

For any event with audio/visual needs, you must request them as resources within 25Live.

For conferences, organizers should submit their request for AV resources at least one month before the event and be sure to include each room's requirements (type and number of microphones, multimedia requests, recording requirements, etc). Additionally, conference organizers need to schedule a mandatory, in-person audio-visual meeting with AV (av.law@yale.edu or AV helpline: 203-432-2277) to determine support needs.

For any YLS event, audio/visual equipment used outside of normal YLS business hours requires an on-site support person to be in attendance at the event. Review more information about audio/visual fees here.

Requesting paid AV services for events

Events by student groups and organizations are recorded or livestreamed only in rare situations and require approvals, fees, and forms to be completed in advance. Request for paid AV support should be emailed to OSA (osa@yale.edu) and AV (law.av@yale.edu or AV helpline: 203-432-2277). Student must include the paid AV support needed (editing recordings, AV staffing after hours), the date, the time, and the location of the event in the email request. *For events hosted on campus, space reservations must requested through Room Reservations before requesting AV support.

AV will outline a quote for the order and send to OSA and the student group.

Student will submit a Student Group Purchase Request form to OSA and AV with the total cost listed on the quote.

AV will send OSA the final invoice and OSA will process payment through the student group's COA. *Invoice Payment Request forms are not needed for transactions made through YLS.

Any video recordings require the collection of a release form from each speaker in advance of recording. The Audio/Video Release form should be completed, signed, and returned to the Office of Public Affairs (publicaffairs.law@yale.edu). If the event is being recorded, be sure to share that information with all attendees before recording begins.

Video recordings that will be posted on a public-facing YLS platform (such as the YLS website or Vimeo channel) require ADA captioning, at the expense of event organizers. Zoom auto-captioning does not meet ADA requirements. Captioning takes four business days to produce, after editing/branding is complete. Resources for closed caption services are available here.

YLS space is prioritized for our community. However, those in the broader Yale community and non-Yale affiliates can request space for an event. The decision on space allocation rests with the Law School administration and is based on the availability on rooms, staffing, and other resources needed to host events. Reservation and room use fees will be incurred. Non-Yale groups will have additional insurance requirements to meet and provide prior to the event being confirmed.

Members of the community cannot reserve YLS space for those outside the community. Requests must come directly from the event organizer.

Designated communal spaces at the Law School can only be reserved when available and if the event adheres to all University and Law School policies.

To inquire about outside reservations or reserving communal space, contact YLSevents@yale.edu.

Confirm travel reimbursement terms and limits with outside guests before finalizing their event participation and travel.

If you are interested in hiring a photographer for an event, reach out to OPA (publicaffairs.law@yale.edu) for a list of approved photographers. No student photographers should be hired for student group events. If you are planning to hire a photographer who is not on the freelance photographer list through OPA, please receive approval from OPA first and then complete the Contract Review form with the Services Agreement for Freelance Photographers for review and signature by the YLS Business Office and Procurement. To inquire about reserving communal space such as the Courtyard for photographs, contact YLSevents@yale.edu. Once the photographer is approved, student organizers must email OPA a few days prior to the photographer’s arrival. The student organizer must meet the photographer at the Security Desk and remain with them during the event.

If you are interested in hiring a performer, musician, or DJ for an event, complete the Contract Review form with the Standard Performance Agreement for review and signature by the YLS Business Office and Procurement. No student performers, musicians, or DJs should be hired for student group events.

If organizing an event by Zoom, please review Zoom Best Practices to support your planning.

Never share links for Zoom meetings publicly. Access links should only be shared with registered participants. You may also choose to only share the link just before the event in order to minimize any chance of that link being shared more widely.

OSA has webinar keys that can allow for secure events up to 500 participants. Contact OSA (osa@yale.edu) if you would like your event to be in webinar format and we can offer you temporary access to the OSA Zoom account.

When planning a career-related event, first consider the programs offered by the Career Development Office (CDO) and make efforts to provide career programs on distinct topics that provide insight beyond CDO's core curriculum. Reach out to CDO at cdo.law@yale.edu to communicate your career-related event or program plans so CDO can help avoid conflicts of time, content, and speakers.

Core CDO Programming Topics: resume and cover letter advice; interviewing advice; preparing for and participating in CDO's interview programs; 1L summer jobs panels; 2L and 3L public interest job search programs; Judicial Clerkship Program series (resources, application components, 3L and alumni perspectives); financial support for public interest jobs; YLS public interest fellowship information.

CDO can assist with: brainstorming topics and speakers and providing background information about previous similar events; suggesting student groups with which to partner for increased impact; advertising the event through CDO weekly emails and Yale Connect; receiving RSVPs, securing a room, and ordering food.

Co-sponsoring Career Events with CDO: CDO welcomes the opportunity to financially support student organization career events through co-sponsorship. Events co-sponsored by CDO must be open to all YLS students. CDO can financially support speaker travel and event catering, although for events with private sector speakers, it is the expectation that the speaker's employer will cover speaker travel costs. Please email the CDO counselor whose focus area aligns with the program, or cdo.law@yale.edu.

Timing of Employment-Related Programming for 1Ls: To allow first-year students the chance to settle into their academic experience at law school, student organizations should not hold employment-related programming prior to October 1. In addition, when planning events with law firm participants, CDO encourages you to consider topic-oriented events featuring panelists from several firms to provide an array of experiences and perspectives.

Student-Led Conference Proposals
All student-led conferences hosted by YLS students or student groups must have prior approval by OSA. Any students interested in hosting a conference should submit a proposal during the application period in the spring term of the academic year prior to the conference. A committee of YLS administrators and staff review the proposals and OSA shares decisions to support funding, dates, and space considerations for all student-led conferences for the following academic year.

Conference Finances
Conference organizers are responsible for maintaining an up-to-date budget spreadsheet with budgeted and actual revenue and expenses. Please reference the Financials section of the YLS Student Handbook to support conference purchases. If conference organizers plan to make solicitations to firms, companies, or other Yale programs, please review the fundraising policies and procedures section of the YLS Student Handbook. Remember to acknowledge co-sponsors (including funds, organizations, and student groups that contributed to the conference) in all publicity materials. If conferences are collecting registration fees, OSA recommends using the EPay platform. Please contact OSA (osa@yale.edu) at least 3 weeks in advance of opening registration to set-up this platform.

Audio-Visual & Event Promotion
Review requirements in "Audio-Visual" and "Event Promotion" sections above.

Conference Website
Conference organizers should create a conference page in Yale Connect to publish a public-facing website for registrants. If student-led conference groups would like a Yale Connect page set up, please contact osa@yale.edu. Registrants should be able to include any dietary restrictions, shirt sizes, etc. in their registration. Yale Connect creates a unique QR code for each registrant to use when they check in to the conference. If requiring registration fees, see conference finances for more information.

Conference Speakers
Student-led conference group planners must submit a complete list of conference speakers and their travel plans to OSA (osa@yale.edu) at least a month before the event.

If students or student groups would like to invite an alumni speaker to YLS, please email the Alumni Engagement & Development Office (AED) at alumni.law@yale.edu and copy OSA (osa@yale.edu) to streamline communication and support this outreach.

Registering an event

Student groups that offer programs for children and youth under 18 years of age must register their event with the Committee for Programs for Children and Youth, which will review and approve programs and provide guidance on health and safety issues, insurance, legal compliance, and other concerns. The Committee includes representatives from the Office of Enterprise Risk Management, Office New Haven and State Affairs, the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, and the Office of the General Counsel, and its purpose is to help run your programs in a way that protects your participants and you.

An online form for registering your program, health and safety guidelines, required forms, and other resources are listed on the Yale Programs for Children and Youth website. Please complete the registration form if you have primary responsibility for organizing a program that will include persons (other than Yale College students) under the age of 18. This form must be submitted at least 30 days before your program begins. Continuing programs must re-register annually. The Committee on Programs for Children and Youth will notify you by e-mail if permission for your program has been approved or denied or if further information is required and the requirements for your program. Please email youth.programs@yale.edu if you have questions about this process.

Additional Resources

The Policy on Health and Safety of Children and Youth sets out basic requirements for registration, training, the adoption of program guidelines, and similar matters. The Policy on Reporting Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect explains your responsibility under Connecticut law and Yale policy to report suspected abuse to the proper authorities. They also have created a useful guide on how to successfully run a youth program.