Media & Entertainment Law

Podcast: Incompetence Among Immigration Lawyers

Posted on March 01, 2008
A recent decision of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opened with these words: "With disturbing frequency, this Court encounters evidence of ineffective representation by attorneys retained by immigrants seeking legal status in this country." This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, my cohost J...

Podcast: The Lawyer Candidates

Posted on February 22, 2008
With the Democratic race for president down to two lawyers, how well did the legal careers of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton prepare them to become our nation's chief executive. That is the topic this week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, as my cohost J...

MA to Review Rules Limiting Judicial Comment

Posted on January 28, 2008
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court announed today that it has appointed a panel to consider whether to revise the rule limiting public comment by judges. Canon 3B(9) of the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct requires judges to "abstain from public comment about a pending or impending Massachusetts proceeding in any court...

Podcast: Virtual Law Firms

Posted on January 28, 2008
Almost since the earliest days of the Internet, lawyers have been experimenting with virtual firms to increase efficiency and lower costs. More recently, virtual firms have taken on greater levels of sophistication and complexity. This week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we discuss this phenomenon with the principals of two virtual firms and a business-development consultant...

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Podcast: Social Networking and the Law

Posted on January 23, 2008
This week on our legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, my co-host J. Craig Williams and I look at the topic, Social Networking and the Law. We have an insightful conversation with three guests who have very different perspectives on the topic: Chris Carfi, co-founder of business-networking company Cerado; Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law; and Kara Swisher, co-executive editor of All Things Digital...

Reg Requires Media to Wear Safety Vests

Posted on January 23, 2008
A Federal Highway Administration regulation that takes effect later this year appears to require members of the news media to wear high-visibility safety apparel when covering events on federally supported highways. The regulation, published at 71 Federal Register 67792, requires, "All workers within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway who are exposed either to traffic (vehicles using the highway for purposes of travel) or to construction equipment within the work area shall wear high-visibility safety apparel...

E-mails did not Violate Open Meeting Law

Posted on January 16, 2008
A Massachusetts district attorney has ruled that a Northampton city councilor did not violate the state's open meetings law when he sent e-mails discussing city business to a majority of city councilors. The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that Northwestern Assistant DA Cynthia M...

The Republican Opposes CORI Changes

Posted on January 16, 2008
An editorial today in The Republican, Changes in CORI Would Be a Crime, says that Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed changes to the Criminal Offender Record Information law, or CORI, would restrict the public's right to know about criminal convictions in a job applicant's past...

I am Interviewed on LexBlog

Posted on January 06, 2008
Thanks to Rob La Gatta at Real Lawyers Have Blogs, the blog of LexBlog, for publishing this Q&A with me.

Our Podcast Named Best Legal Podcast

Posted on December 26, 2007
I am honored to report that Lawyer2Lawyer, the weekly legal-affairs podcast I cohost with J. Craig Williams, is the winner for the second year in a row of Dennis Kennedy's Best of Law-related Blogging Award for Best Legal Podcast. Dennis writes:"This regular weekly podcast of interviews and panel discussions has a new name for 2007, but is once again the clear choice as best legal podcast...

Podcast: The Tavares Case

Posted on December 05, 2007
A Massachusetts' judge's release of Daniel Tavares become part of the national political debate after Tavares allegedly shot and killed a newlywed couple in Washington state and Republican presidential hopeful and former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney called on the judge -- his own appointee -- to resign...

Podcast: Vioxx Lawyers Discuss Settlement

Posted on November 20, 2007
On Nov. 9, Merck & Co., after long insisting it would never settle the 27,000 Vioxx cases filed against it, turned an about face and agreed to a global settlement in which it will pay $4.85 billion to resolve the bulk of these cases. Two of the lawyers who were instrumental in bringing this about join us to discuss the settlement on the latest episode of the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer...

Podcast: The RIAA vs. File Sharers

Posted on November 18, 2007
This week on the legal affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer, we discuss the ongoing litigation by the Recording Industry Association of America against college students, soccer moms and others accused of illegally sharing and downloading music. Our guests for this program are two experts on the issue:Richard L...

MNPA Annual Meeting Set for Nov. 29

Posted on November 12, 2007
The annual meeting of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association is scheduled for Nov. 29, 2007, at Anthony's Pier Four in Boston. This year's featured luncheon speaker is Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, who will speak on courts and the news media and take questions from the audience...

Presentation on Russian Courts and Media

Posted on November 09, 2007
After my trip to Russia last May, I gave a presentation in Boston on Russian courts and the news media. I have now converted that presentation to Flash and posted it here, should anyone be interested in viewing it.

Database Tracks Threats to Citizen Journalists

Posted on November 07, 2007
The Citizen Media Law Project today launched its Legal Threats Database, a collection that documents legal threats aimed at online speech, including lawsuits, cease-and-desist letters and other legal actions. I have further details at my LawSites blog.

Podcast: Pam Smart Case Back in the News

Posted on November 07, 2007
The 1991 first-degree murder trial of New Hampshire teacher Pam Smart drew international media attention and spawned the Joyce Maynard novel and Nicole Kidman movie, To Die For. Smart was accusing of luring her 16-year-old lover, William Flynn, and two of his friends into murdering her husband Gregory...

SJC Upholds Child Porn Law

Posted on October 19, 2007
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court today issued a decision, Commonwealth v. Kenney, upholding the First Amendment constitutionality of the state law that makes it a crime to possess child pornography. The court rejected the defendant's contentions that the statute violates the First Amendment because it is vague and overbroad...

House Passes Media Shield Bill

Posted on October 16, 2007
AP is reporting that the House today passed the media shield bill. The White House has threatened to veto it.

Could the SJC Remove Judge Murphy?

Posted on October 16, 2007
After the Commission on Judicial Conduct concludes this week's hearing into Judge Ernest Murphy's letters to Boston Herald Publisher Patrick Purcell, it will decide whether to recommend that he be disciplined. The CJC cannot impose discipline itself; it sends a recommendation to the Supreme Judicial Court, which is free to accept, reject or modify the recommendation...

Podcast: Chemerinsky, Drake Discuss New Irvine Law School

Posted on October 10, 2007
Break out the bubbly! It is the second anniversary (give or take a month) of our weekly legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer. We posted our first program on Aug. 31, 2005, with two special guests, then newly installed ABA President Michael S. Greco and Duke Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky...

Text of Ruling in WHDH Prior Restraint Case

Posted on October 09, 2007
[A Massachusetts Appeals Court judge last week lifted an injunction that blocked a Boston TV station from reporting the results of an explosive autopsy report showing that one Boston firefighter killed in the line of duty was intoxicated and another had traces of cocaine in his blood...

What Powell Meant to Say in Branzburg

Posted on October 07, 2007
In A Justice's Scribbles on Journalists' Rights, New York Times reporter Adam Liptak sheds light on what Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. meant to say in Branzburg v. Hayes, that most cryptic of cases dealing with journalists' right to protect confidential sources.

Libel Win Pit Newspaper Against Newspaper

Posted on September 26, 2007
Always good news when a newspaper beats a libel lawsuit, but in an ironic twist to a Texas case decided last week, the victorious newspaper was defending itself against a plaintiff that was also a newspaper. As Tex Parte Blog reports, the Sept. 20 ruling from the state's 8th Court of Appeals was a victory for Belo Corp...

Justice Giveth; Justice Taketh Away

Posted on September 26, 2007
Adjacent news items from the Web site of The Coalition of Journalists for Open Government offer in ironic illustration of public-access hypocrisy by the U.S. Justice Department. First comes the good news: The Justice Department has directed all federal departments and agencies that have an FOIA backlog to post a plan by Nov...

NYT: A Shield for the Public

Posted on September 21, 2007
Yesterday's New York Times editorial, A Shield for the Public, puts the emphasis where it should be in supporting the federal shield bill. The key point is that a shield bill is not needed to protect journalists, it is needed to protect the public's right to know...

Podcast: Toy Safety, the View from China

Posted on September 21, 2007
The label "Made in China" is under a lot of scrutiny as of late. On the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer this week, we talk to two experts resident in China for their perspective on how governments and manufacturers can help ensure toy and product safety...

Podcast: Human Rights Lawyers

Posted on September 13, 2007
Lawyers who devote substantial time to promoting international human rights are our focus this week on the legal-affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer. Joining my cohost J. Craig Williams and me to discuss their work in this field are:Christina M. Storm, founder and director of Lawyers Without Borders, the world's largest organization of volunteer human rights lawyers...

Sad Footnote to Murphy Libel Case

Posted on August 28, 2007
I just learned that Bob Dushman, the highly regarded Boston media lawyer who defended the Boston Herald at trial in the Judge Ernest Murphy libel case, died July 27 at the age of 59. Bob was a partner with Brown Rudnick and had represented the Herald for more than two decades...

California Finds Right to Know Salaries

Posted on August 27, 2007
California's Supreme Court issued two important cases today involving the public's right to know. In one, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers v. The Superior Court of Alameda County, the court held that the public has the right to obtain the names and salaries of public employees earning $100,000 or more a year...

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