Past Events

Lawyers, Guns and Money: Reality Programming and the Law
June 13, 2008 (9am to 2pm)

Reality programming poses thorny new questions to be analyzed in the legal laboratory. To date, however, the analysis has lacked a practical dimension. Recycle or preserve outtakes? Blur or leave subjects identifiable? Ask for a release, or leave well enough alone?

Restricted to attorneys who practice in this area, the conference will consist of three workshops and a panel where attorneys can share their experiences and consult about “best practices” for the reality genre.

Workshops

1. Invasion of Privacy / Hidden Cameras / Eavesdropping

This workshop will examine the increase in claims of misappropriation and intrusion arising from the use of hidden cameras and microphones, as well as from the filming of subjects in places that are otherwise open to the public. Has the exponential growth in reality programming led courts to erode protections for the taping of otherwise newsworthy subjects? Should we blur everyone, or just minors? Is a public street really public anymore?

2. Releases / Background Screenings

How good is your release? What if it’s been signed by a dope-dealer on meth? What if you’ve paid him? Should you pay him? Will a background check and psychological evaluation protect your client from legal liability, or will it just produce boring contestants? This workshop will examine whether releases are worth the paper they are printed on, and what other protections producers can take to protect against lawsuits and liability. It will also examine the fundamental tension between producers in the field who want the footage (and access) at nearly any cost, and lawyers at home who will have to pay for it.

3. Outtakes / Subpoenas / Document Production

The First Amendment protects the compelled disclosure of outtakes, doesn’t it? But what if the party compelling the production is the same law enforcement agency being filmed? Should you assert your rights, or fold your tent? And if you fold, have you exposed your client to additional liability? This workshop will explore ways to protect outtakes from compelled production while preserving them for defensive needs in subsequent litigation. It will also explore how to create a coherent (and defensible) document retention policy that will protect against the disclosure of the most embarrassing (unaired) moments of your own subjects while minimizing the risk of spoliation.


Lunch Panel – Law: What Is It Good For?

Four producers with extensive experience in the reality genre will discuss how lawyers have helped them avoid problems in their productions, how lawyers have harmed them, and how they really feel when they get that phone call from Legal.


The panel event will be moderated by Prof. Cameron Stracher. Scheduled panelists include executive producers from the reality shows Dog: The Bounty Hunter, Manhunters, and DEA, among other productions.

Workshop facilitators include Stephanie Abrutyn, VP and Senior Counsel, Litigation, HBO; Laura Handman, Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP; Lee Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP; David Sternbach, Litigation & IP Counsel, A&E Television Networks.


For more information or to register for this event, please contact Usheevii King at uking@nyls.edu.  

Note: Attendance is limited to counsel representing reality programming. 

Careers in Law and Journalism
Tuesday, February 26 | 12:50pm | B400

What is it like to work as a media attorney? Is it hard to get a job writing about the law? If I want to go into media law, or into legal journalism, are there things I can be doing now, as a student, to make me more attractive to future employers?

Join us on February 26th, 12:50pm in room B400, as the Office of Career Services and Program in Law and Journalism are proud to present Careers in Law and Journalism. Panelists will tell us about their own career paths and offer advice on how you can break into careers at the intersection of journalism and the law.

Moderator: Professor Cameron Stracher

Panelists:

Alia Smith, Media Law Attorney, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz (Associate) Ashby Jones, Staff Writer, Wall Street Journal Kristina Fischer, Editor in Chief, New York Law Journal Lunch will be served.

RSVP required, through Office of Career Services, NYLS Career Court 

Inside the Author's Studio
November 30, 2007

Inside the Author's Studio: A discussion moderated by Professor Lis Wiehl (Fox News) and bestselling author and ex-sex crime prosecutor Linda Fairstein.    Registration required. Rsvp plj@nyls.edu

 Reporting the Law Panel
November 8, 2007

The Program in Law & Journalism at New York Law School held its Third Annual Media Roundup.   Legal stories that made headlines in the news this past year will be debated by our panel comprised of prestigious print, television and online journalists.  The program will be moderated by Lis Wiehl (Fox News).  You can see the Reporting the Law: A Year-end Review information here.

See the video here.

A Conversation with Linda Fairstein November 30 Linda Fairstein spoke to students and faculty about her groundbreaking career as Manhattan's sex-crimes prosecutor and her return to her first love, writing, in what has become an eagerly anticipated bestselling mystery series with...a sex crimes prosecutor as its heroine. Ms. Fairstein's next book to draw on her decades of experience will be published in March, 2008.

A Conversation with John Yoo
April 20, 2007

The Program in Law & Journalism presented a conversation on media coverage of the legal issues in the “war on terror” with Professor John Yoo, conducted by Adam Liptak, the national legal correspondent for The New York Times.  Professor Yoo has been widely credited for the Bush administration’s legal position that the Constitution gives the President broad authority to use force abroad in response to grave national emergencies and that Congress has limited authority to restrict the interrogation of terrorists.  

Watch the Program

Writing About the Law: From Bluebook to Blogs and Beyond
February 16, 2007

The Program in Law & Journalism and the New York Law School Law Review co-sponsored this symposium on writing about the law. The day-long program included presentations on everything from the structure and future of legal scholarship to the increasing appetite of the mainstream media and American public for all things legal. Although the law can be maddening, the presentations are not. Lively, informed, energetic, and extremely relevant.

Morning Panel #1: Just Cite It! The Traditional Law Review Structure
Law reviews have been attacked as irrelevant and their student editors criticized as incompetent, yet legal scholars still need to publish in law reviews to get and keep their jobs. What role does the traditional law review play, what role should it play, and should it be continued?

See the video here

Morning Panel #2: Lost in Translation (?) Writing About the Law for a Non-Legal Audience
Writing about law for a lay audience poses its own unique challenges. What is lost and what is gained by having to translate complex legal concepts into concise news reporting, incisive commentary or compelling drama?

See the video here

Lunch / Keynote Address
The Keynote Speaker was John Osborn, author of The Paper Chase and Visiting Professor, University of San Francisco School of Law.

See the video here

Afternoon Panel: Beyond the Bluebook: The Future of Writing About the Law
In a world increasingly dominated by blogs and online publications, does traditional legal scholarship have a future? Will legal scholars abandon the traditional law review to write for a popular audience, and if so, why? What will this brave new world look like?

See the video here

Break-Out Session for Law Review Editors
Law review editors will discuss the pitfalls, problems, and perks of running a (mostly) student-edited academic journal. 

Panelists

Reporting the Law -- A Year End Review
November 15, 2006

See the video here

• What legal stories were over-emphasized simply because they made “good TV?”
• What important stories were ignored because they did not?
• Did journalists get the story, and did they get it right?
• What was the impact on the public of these decisions and omissions?

Panelists

The Judiciary and the Media: Friends or Foes?
April 20, 2006

See the video here

• Should cameras be allowed in the courtroom?
• Do judges (and lawyers) behave differently when the bright lights are on?
• When should judges talk to the press, and how?
• Do gag orders work?
• Are sealed documents fair game for inquisitive reporters?

In a 24/7 news environment, with legal stories at the top of the page, the time is ripe for a spirited discussion of these controversial questions, and lunch.

A Conversation on the Future of Journalism
October 10, 2005

See the video here

Charles Nesson
Weld Professor of Law
Codirector Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Harvard Law School

Cameron Stracher and Lis Wiehl
Co-Directors, Program in Law & Journalism
New York Law School

Moderated by Jethro Lieberman
Associate Dean, New York Law School

Covering The Big Case -- From O.J. Simpson to Michael Jackson

Lights, camera, action, lawyers!

April 21, 2005

You can watch the video here.

SPONSORED BY MEDIA / PROFESSIONAL INSURANCE