Media defense attorney Jonathan Sherman to speak Feb. 27 as part of IJPM lecture series ‘Law, Politics and the Media’

Media defense attorney Jonathan Sherman to speak Feb. 27 as part of IJPM lecture series ‘Law, Politics and the Media’February 21, 2008Jaime Winne Alvarezjlwinne@syr.edu

Jonathan Sherman, an attorney specializing in complex commercial litigation and media defense, will speak on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Syracuse University as part of the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media‘s (IJPM) semester-long lecture series “Law, Politics and the Media.” His lecture, “The Media in Court” will take place from 2:30-4 p.m. in Room 204 of the SU College of Law. It is open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

Sherman is a partner at the Washington, D.C., office of Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP, where he is a member of the firm’s communications committee. Well-versed on the First Amendment, Sherman has more than 16 years’ experience defending and counseling clients (both media and non-media) in matters involving defamation, access to government and judicial proceedings, copyright and privacy rights, government funding of speech, Internet-related access disputes and international free speech rights.

Sherman was lead counsel on behalf of Court TV in litigation challenging the constitutionality of the State of New York’s statutory ban on television cameras in state courtrooms and currently represents Courtroom View Network in its attempts to cover federal court proceedings. (The network provides streaming Internet transmission of judicial proceedings.) He assisted CBS Corp. in its defense to the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency fine for the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show. In 2005, he represented a large media company in connection with an investigation of a leak of information from a highly publicized grand jury proceeding.

Sherman earned a bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Rochester, a master’s degree in history at Yale University and a J.D. at Stanford Law School. He was previously an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University, where he taught courses on the intersection of antitrust, intellectual property and the First Amendment, and a visiting lecturer at Yale College (the undergraduate program of Yale University), where he taught freedom of expression.

The American judicial system today operates in a complex environment of legal principle, political pressure and media coverage. The goal of the “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series is to provide an introduction to the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study. Throughout the spring semester, sitting judges, practicing lawyers and working journalists will be featured speakers.

The lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media that is cross-listed between the College of Law and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The course is taught by SU professors Keith Bybee (IJPM director), Lisa Dolak (IJPM associate director) and Mark Obbie (IJPM associate director), and funded through support from the John Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corp. of New York.

Launched in September 2006, IJPM is an academic institute devoted to the interdisciplinary study of issues at the intersection of law, politics and the media. A collaborative effort of SU’s College of Law, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Newhouse School, the institute sponsors lectures, conferences and symposia designed to foster discussion and debate among legal scholars, sitting judges and working journalists.

For more information on the “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series and IJPM, visit http://jpm.syr.edu.