As a Yale Law School student on summer break, Joshua McLaurin spent part of last year videorecording criminal court proceedings to document the experience of indigent defendants in Georgia.

He wasn’t working for any news organization. Rather, he saw the project as an alternative to a typical legal internship. He consulted with the Southern Center for Human Rights, which has sued over the quality of indigent defense in some parts of Georgia, and produced a video that he placed on You­Tube.