The First Amendment & Media Practice at Montgomery McCracken is committed to defending freedom of speech and of the press in its representation of media clients. Our objective is to protect our clients' right to speak and publish and the public's right to know. We always work to provide a swift, cost-effective resolution to our clients' needs. And, if necessary, we will defend our clients' First Amendment rights all the way to the Supreme Court. We are proud that one of our partners was the winning attorney in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, which shifted the burden of proof from defendant to plaintiff in an important category of libel cases. Our attorneys often speak and publish on First Amendment and media law, and hold leadership positions in media-related American Bar Association committees and other organizations.
As technology continues to develop new means of communication, we have kept pace with this growth by broadening our scope into the developing law of cyberspace.
Media clients requiring services in other areas of the law have immediate access to other lawyers within the firm with skills and experience in labor, tax, general litigation and business matters.
In recent years we have achieved significant victories for our media clients. For example, in Ertel v. Patriot-News Co., we succeeded in obtaining a ruling from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that not only affirmed summary judgment on behalf of our client but also changed the standard for summary judgment in Pennsylvania to make summary disposition more accessible to media defendants. On behalf of another newspaper client we achieved a pre-trial dismissal of a fifty-count defamation case after obtaining a preliminary ruling that the plaintiff was a limited purpose public figure.
We approach every case with an eye to developing a strategy for early disposition to avoid the burden and expense of trial while at the same time making sure that we are well prepared for a trial if one is necessary. We also understand that many First Amendment cases are about issues other than money. Of course, we are always accessible to advise clients on defamation, intellectual property and other issues in advance of publication to avoid litigation when possible without sacrificing First Amendment values.