First Amendment Law
Ben Moshe & Stein represent both companies and individuals addressing disputes involving content-based and viewpoint discrimination, defamation, libel, campaign and election issues, privacy concerns, advertising, outdoor advertising displays, film making, and associational rights. Our First Amendment group includes attorneys well-versed and experienced in First Amendment principals to provide sound, sophisticated and individualized legal service.
Ben Moshe & Stein’s First Amendment practice group provides counseling and litigation services in all aspects of free speech law. Our firm has a strong and long-standing commitment to constitutional and public policy issues, and we regularly counsel clients across the political spectrum on federal and state constitutional, election, and policy concerns. We work closely with our clients to defend their rights and accomplish their legal and business goals. Our First Amendment legal services include counseling in the areas of:
- Freedom of information and open meeting laws – preparing and/or responding to information requests, subpoenas, and advice on the statutory obligations of organizations subject to these laws
- Rights of association – protecting nonprofit organizations and political parties from unlawful interference
- Content-based and viewpoint discrimination – identifying and remedying government discrimination against viewpoints or types of speech, including hate crimes
- National and state campaign finance and election practices – assisting with political campaign organization, formation of independent expenditure entities, compliance with campaign contribution limits, and navigating enforcement proceedings
- Religious liberties – identifying and remedying unlawful discrimination against certain faiths and attempts to impose impermissible limits in religious or anti-religious communications
- Prior restraint – evaluation and response to attempts to suppress free speech
- Commercial free speech and related intellectual property issues – protecting speech in economic markets from unlawful government interference, and managing issues arising from the evolving boundary between First Amendment and laws governing unfair competition, trademark, trade dress, deceptive advertising, cyber-piracy, and dilution of intangible property rights
Our attorneys advise clients, manage correction and retraction demands, and litigate free speech issues in federal and state court. We have served a broad range of media clients, including print and online publishers and newspapers, advertising companies, broadcasters, individual authors, and journalists. We also represent non-media businesses, interest groups, and individual clients on libel, invasion of privacy, public information, political speech, political association and commercial speech matters.