Silverside AI and Pierce’s Pledge Unveil Gut-Wrenching Animated PSA That Offers a Solution

Pierce’s Pledge, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep children safe during stressful and volatile custody disputes, and Silverside AI, a Pereira O'Dell + Serviceplan company, have partnered to release “Lawyer That Cares”: a PSA and call to action for family law attorneys and their clients, entirely animated by generative AI.

Pierce’s Pledge believes that by storing guns and weapons outside of the home during divorce and custody proceedings, attorneys can help keep families safe. The organization works with lawyers, mediators, custody partners, and judges to advocate for children without a voice. Pierce's Pledge built the first and only national gun storage map, used by federal agencies and citizens. As filicide occurs in moments of crisis, and during proceedings where each side has a negative influence over the other, it can feel almost impossible for anyone involved to prevent things from escalating. Lawyers, however, do possess that power: they bring a calm, focused presence to the table and can help both sides work together for the safety of the children. Most importantly, they can access their clients before an emotional crisis hits.

In the film, a child recounts a violent argument between their parents during a divorce dispute. The parents are animated in nightmarish horror to reflect the haunting nature of the fight through the child’s eyes. When the chilling argument reaches what would have been its catastrophic conclusion as both parents reach for a gun, viewers are relieved to see that said weapon is gone. Because the parents’ family law attorney signed Pierce’s Pledge, the gun was removed from the household, keeping both parents and their innocent child safe. 

Pierce’s Pledge founder Lesley Hu and family lawyer Monica Mazzei created the pledge because, tragically, Lesley’s own story ended differently. During divorce proceedings on the evening of January 13, 2021, Lesley’s ex-husband and her son Pierce’s father killed Pierce in his sleep, and then himself. Four years later, Lesley aims to share the pledge with attorneys nationwide who need the means to safeguard their clients - and common sense steps parents undergoing their own divorce or custody proceedings can take to safeguard themselves and their families.

Pierce’s Pledge and Silverside AI created the animation to demonstrate an effective outcome under the pledge terms. The film was entirely animated using AI tools like Luma and Runway, combined with traditional animation and even some hand-drawn elements. Voiceover was recorded by an adult and rendered with an AI filter to sound like a child, to avoid having an actual child read a script on a difficult topic. As a small NGO, AI-generated animation allowed Pierce’s Pledge to tell their story despite their small size.

The pledge reads: "I pledge to do my part in keeping children as safe as possible during family law matters. For the best interest of the child, I pledge to provide information and communicate about firearm risks to clients.

I also pledge to expect my clients to declare weapons and guns they may have in their possession and that they store them in a secure off-site location with a third-party or otherwise separate themselves from those firearms during the case, or as may be required under state or federal law. 

To reduce risk of harm to my client and others, I pledge that I will take ethically permissible steps to address a client or potential client’s refusal to declare and/or store their firearms off-site."

Help is always available; the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988.