Licensed to practice in Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C.
LEGAL EXPERIENCE
Solo Practice
Washington, D.C. - Harrisonburg, VA
January 4, 1991 - Present
Clients include USA TODAY, the newspapers member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, and The Washington Examiner.
My full client list is exclusively news publishers.Work for these clients includes prepublication counseling, responses on demands for correction, advice on gaining newspaper distribution access and on access to records and meetings, working with freelance contracts, copyright and trademark issues, defending against administrative agency actions, advocacy on remote access to public court records,avoiding unneeded demands for reporter evidence and testimony, and pursuing refused requests for access to meetings or to public government and public court records.Most of my calls come from editors and reporters who are working on deadline or have an immediate problem rising from their news publishing work.Publishers call with trademark and copyright issues, some contract issues, and other business related questions.
Litigation
I have participated in the representation of a newspaper party in cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and the 3rd, 4th, and 11th Circuits.I have written or participated in writing amicus briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States on First Amendment issues for newspaper publishing clients.As a solo practitioner, I have participated in writing or was Counsel of Record on these amicus briefs:
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Amicus Brief on behalf of the Newspaper Association of America, on the issue of distribution access to post office grounds, Initiative and Referendum Institute v. U.S.P.S., June of 2011
Supreme Court of the United States, Amicus Brief on behalf of American Newspaper Publishers Association and others regarding the distribution of newspapers in airports, ISKCON v. Lee, February of 1992.
Supreme Court of the United States, Amicus Brief on behalf of American Newspapers Publishers Association and others regarding news coverage of criminal trials and the right of lawyers to speak to the public, Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, February of 1991.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Amicus Brief on behalf of USA TODAY and others on the power of government to control newspaper distribution in the public forum, Graff v. City of Chicago, Spring of 1993.
California Supreme Court, Amicus Brief on behalf of the California Newspapers Publishers Association on the application of an anti-solicitation ordinance to newspaper sales, Los Angeles Alliance for Survival v. City of Los Angeles, Spring of 1999.
Davis, Graham & Stubbs
Washington, D.C.
Of Counsel
December 1988-December 1990
Clients billed during my two years at Davis included USA TODAY, Ottoway News Service, WAMU Radio, and the Public Broadcasting Service.I was frequently involved in issues concerning the news media, and filed comments with the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section on a lawyer's right to make extrajudicial statements to the press.
I was lead drafter of two briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States:
Amicus Brief on behalf of Gannett Co., Inc., The Washington Post Company, Tribune Company, and Richmond Newspapers, Inc. regarding the right to distribute newspapers on U.S. Post Office grounds, U.S. v. Kokinda, December, 1989.
Amicus Brief on behalf of American Newspaper Publishers Association and others regarding the right of access to criminal wiretap records, Easton Publishing Co. v. Boettger, October, 1989.
Gannett Co., Inc.
Arlington, Va.
From Staff Attorney to Assistant General Counsel
September 1978 - December 1988
My practice at Gannett was much like this one:to provide pre- and post-publication counseling for print and broadcast subsidiaries regarding advertising and news, to manage its news related litigation, and to lay the ground work for effective news defenses by conducting newsroom and advertising education programs for Gannett newspapers and television stations.I also provided advice on copyright protection, the "fair use" doctrine, and other copyright infringement concerns, especially on behalf of USA TODAY in its newly developing relationships with free-lancers.For seven years, I managed all of Gannett's litigation concerning newspaper circulation, news access, forced disclosure of information, libel, and invasion of privacy.I advised on laws affecting newspaper circulation and development of legal strategies to protect the expansion of newspaper circulation, and advised on the application of law inhibiting the advertising of a lottery.I was responsible for trademark development and enforcement for USA TODAY when it was a new product, and was responsible for overseeing the registration of its trademark in the United States, Europe and Asia.
JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE
Reporter, WKYC-TV, Cleveland, 10/72 - 10/76
Reporter, WBAL-TV, Baltimore,3/71 - 10/72
Reporter, Free-lance, 7/70 - 02/71
Reporter, KLZ-TV, Denver 10/69 - 06/70
Reporter, WRVA Radio, Richmond 6/68 - 10/69
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Shenandoah University, Undergraduate Media Law (Spring, 1994)
American University, School of Communications, Media Law (Spring 2005-Spring 2009)
George Washington University, Shapiro Teaching Fellowship for Media Law
James Madison University, Mass Communications Law, (Fall, 2011)
BARMEMBERSHIPS
Admitted and in good standing to practice in the District of Columbia (1987), Maryland (1991), and Virginia (1992).Admitted but on inactive stuatnot practicing in Ohio and West Virginia.
Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Third and Fourth Circuits and the District of Columbia
EDUCATION
J.D., Cleveland State University
Cleveland Marshall College of Law, 1978
B.A., Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Major in English, Minor in Economics, 1966
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
ABA/ANPA Joint Media Task Force, American Newspaper Publishers Association Legal Affairs Committee, 1978 - 1988
Faculty Member, Practicing Law Institute, Communication Law Forum, 1984 - 1985
Faculty Member, Practicing Law Institute, Libel Law Seminar, June 1988
ANPA Liaison, Fair Trial - Free Press Standards Updating Task Force, Criminal Justice Section, American Bar Association, 1988-19891991-1994,
Member, National Conference of Lawyers and Representatives of the Media, American Bar Association.
Virginia Coalition for Open Government Board of Directors,
Founding Member from start-up to 1999.
New Media Fellow, Newspaper Association of America, Class of 2000
Committee on Court Records Access, Court of Appeals of Maryland advisory appointments, February, 2001 - October 2004.
Advisory Board, Media Law Reporter, 1984 - Current
Secretary, Board of Trustees, MDDC Foundation
D.C. Bar, Media Law Committee, Current Member
Harrisonburg-Rockland County Bar Association
Media Law Resource Center, Current Member
Publications
“Getting ‘HIP’ to HIPAA,” and Letter to Editors publications prepared for Newspaper Association of America and the Maryland Delaware D.C. Press Association.March, 2003
"Even the Web Has Its Rules"Ideas Magazine, published by International Newspaper Marketing Association, January, 1999.
"What Photographers can, can't do, in pursuing a person" published by The American Editor (ASNE), January, 1998.
Newsracks, A Business and Legal Guide for the Distribution of Printed Materials by News Vending Machine; published by Newspaper Association of America in 1997 and 2010
Co-Editor; The Reporter's Key: Rights of Fair Trial and Free Press;
published by the American Bar Association in 1994.
Professional