Practice

First Amendment and Media

Advising and defending media and entertainment clients on the full range of free-speech, publication, access and IP matters

We represent leading news organizations, entertainment companies, publishers, authors, documentarians, and content-creators in a full range of litigation matters implicating free speech, free press and related rights. With a track record of successful outcomes in state and federal courts across the country, our team brings deep experience to the defense of newsgathering and publication-related claims, complex commercial disputes, and cutting-edge issues at the intersection of media, technology and the law. 

We regularly defend media clients against defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, and other publication-related claims in jurisdictions across the country. Our attorneys are equally experienced in public access matters on behalf of the press, including applications for access to civil and criminal court proceedings and records, and Freedom of Information Act and state freedom of information law litigation. We also handle digital rights management counseling, and disputes involving advertising, social networks, blogs, user-generated content, and anonymous online speech.

Our practice encompasses the full lifecycle of counseling and litigation, from pre-publication review and risk assessment to trial and appellate advocacy.

Experience

  • Secured a permanent injunction barring the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order sanctioning those who support the International Criminal Court (ICC), with the court ruling that the order violated the First Amendment rights of two law professors who provide education, training, analysis and other services to the Office of the ICC Prosecutor. 
  • Successfully defended five Gannett newspapers against defamation claims by Nicholas Sandmann arising from a widely covered incident on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and obtained dismissal of a lawsuit by controversial social media commentator Candace Owens against USA TODAY.*
  • Filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in NRA v. Vullo, addressing significant First Amendment questions involving alleged government coercion of regulated entities and the protection of advocacy organizations’ speech rights. 
  • Co-counsel in filing an amicus brief in Counterman v. Colorado before the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting Colorado in a case addressing whether the First Amendment requires proof of a speaker’s subjective intent to threaten, or whether an objective “reasonable person” standard is sufficient, in the prosecution of online stalking
* Handled by Foley Hoag attorneys prior to joining the firm.