Practice Areas & Industries: Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Attorneys in Dinsmore & Shohl LLP’s First Amendment/Media Law Practice Group are engaged in pre-publication counseling and litigating on behalf of newspapers, broadcasters and other media outlets on a full range of issues impacting the news media. Our attorneys have extensive backgrounds and experience with First Amendment issues, including defamation, invasion of privacy, and all other claims made by the subjects of news articles and other publications, as well as issues concerning access to the records and proceedings of courts and other public agencies.

We have been extensively involved in efforts to establish and expand rights of access to public records and meetings through state law and the federal Freedom of Information Act. In that regard, we have drafted legislation on behalf of our clients and testified before legislative committees involved in issues affecting our clients. We also assist our clients’ efforts to exercise their rights of access through counseling and litigation.

We have defended numerous media clients in litigation involving claims of defamation, invasion of privacy and claims relating to alleged reporter misconduct, and efforts to hold our clients in contempt of court for publishing material sealed by court order. In addition, we have extensive experience with judicial proceedings to seek access to closed courtrooms and sealed court files, including emergency appellate proceedings. We have defended subpoenas to reporters and have dealt with the full array of advertising and circulation issues.

Representative clients include The Kentucky Press Association, for which we operate a legal hotline, allowing member newspapers to obtain counseling on these issues; The Louisville Courier-Journal, Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc. and Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., Media General, Inc., and Paxton Media Group.

Representative Experience

The Courier-Journal, Inc.
Payne v. Courier-Journal
Defense of a claim of copyright violation 
 
Multiple Clients
Business Litigation
Representative experience in business litigation involving a variety of business industries and legal issues.