Attorney Jonathan Sherman to examine ‘media in court’ in next IJPM lecture Feb. 2

Attorney Jonathan Sherman to examine ‘media in court’ in next IJPM lecture Feb. 2January 26, 2009Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

On Monday, Feb. 2, Jonathan Sherman, of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP in Washington, D.C., will continue the spring “Law, Politics and the Media” lecture series presented by the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media (IJPM), when he presents “The Media in Court.” Sherman’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 3:50-5:10 p.m. in Room 204 at the Syracuse University College of Law. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

Sherman is a partner specializing in complex commercial litigation, and media defense and First Amendment matters at Boies, Schiller & Flexner. He has more than 16 years of 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.

In the area of the First Amendment, Sherman was lead counsel on behalf of Court TV in litigation challenging the constitutionality of New York’s statutory ban on television cameras in the state’s courtrooms. He currently represents Courtroom View Network, which provides streaming Internet transmissions of judicial proceedings, in its attempts to cover federal court proceedings. He recently assisted CBS Corp. in its defense to the FCC’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. From 1998-2001, Sherman was an adjunct associate professor of law at Fordham University. He was a visiting lecturer at Yale College in 1993.

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 among the College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. 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 the College of Law, Maxwell School 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.