Areas of Practice
Antitrust; Cable Television; Communications; Information Law; International; Internet; Litigation; Media; Programming/Content; Telecommunications

Representative Experience

Litigation

Has tried and argued cases in federal and state trial and appeals courts throughout the United States, including the U.S. Supreme Court

Cases have spanned all segments of the communications and media industries, including theft of concept, sponsorship agreement disputes, defamation and false light claims, trademark and copyright infringement and enforcement, franchising, private and municipal overbuilds, level-playing-field statutes, antitrust, constitutional issues, local right-of-way and zoning regulation of telecom carriers, and a variety of other issues arising under federal, state and local laws and commercial relationships

Active commercial litigation practice outside of the communications industry, representing companies such as Chrysler, U.S. Steel, Dow Chemical, Gulf Oil, Dow Corning, Unisys, West Publishing and many others in a broad range of litigation involving contract disputes, trade secrets, government contracts, access to government records, commercial lease disputes, product liability, antitrust and unfair trade, freedom of religion, wrongful termination of employment, and negligent hiring

Appearances before numerous federal, state and local agencies and administrative bodies; arbitration and mediation of cases; and service as an arbitrator

Program Networks

Advises program networks on a wide variety of commercial and regulatory issues, such as content licensing, program access, affiliate distribution agreements, program production and acquisition, sponsorship agreements, closed captioning, Internet and website matters, satellite distribution, foreign programming distribution, intellectual property (trademark and copyright), cross-platform distribution of digital content, as well as general business strategy

Has litigated a number of cases for networks involving theft of concept, antitrust, affiliate distribution agreements, sponsorship agreements, defamation and false light claims, and satellite distribution contracts

International Law

Consults with clients, attorneys and regulators on communications, antitrust, information law and commercial matters in a number of countries. Prior projects have included Canada, Chile, China, the Caribbean, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland

Has performed projects sponsored by international bodies such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development for development of telecom regulatory frameworks and infrastructure in countries such as Mexico and Peru

Member of International Lawyers Group, Executive Committee

Information, Privacy and Internet Law

Internationally recognized expert in the field of information law. Has testified as an expert witness before the United States Congress (House and Senate), and authored two treatises and a number of law review articles on the subjects of information, open records, privacy and intellectual property law

Advises clients on Internet issues, such as the fight against spam, website content and liability, Internet taxation, and regulation of the Internet by ICANN

Representative Cases
Represented Chrysler Corp. in Chrysler v. Brown, seminal U.S. Supreme Court case that established right of companies to enjoin federal agencies from FOIA disclosure of trade secrets

Represented Outdoor Life Network in litigation against DBS distributor for breach of distribution contract, resulting in settlement highly favorable to the network

Represented Dow Corning Corp. in multiple cases enjoining government release of Dow Corning trade secrets relating to silicone breast implants and injectable silicone

Represented West Publishing in trade secret litigation that enjoined Department of Justice disclosure of West’s Juris database

Successfully defended Speedvision Network in theft of concept and antitrust case, resulting in dismissal of claims

Represented cable operator in successful antitrust litigation establishing Sherman Act liability against AT&T based on essential facilities and bathtub conspiracy claims

Represented cable operator in enjoining municipality from operating competing cable system

Represented cable operator in enjoining defendant company from operating competing cable system

Successfully defended telephone company in trademark infringement action

Successfully defended cable television network in defamation and false light case

Successfully represented plaintiff in recovery on negligence in hiring claim, establishing new law in State of Maryland

Represented Sperry Univac (Unisys) in successful defense of theft of trade secret case

Represented Sperry Univac (Unisys) in successful defense of wrongful termination claim

Represented cable television network in contract litigation with satellite operator, obtaining favorable settlement

Prior Experience
Partner, Cole, Raywid & Braverman LLP,
1974-2006

Publications and Presentations
Frequent speaker at conferences communications, media, cable, telecom and information law issues, both in the United States and abroad. Recent presentations have focused on VoIP, forced access to broadband distribution facilities, and the regulation of spam.

"Supreme Court Decision Raises the Bar for Plaintiffs' Antitrust Lawsuits," Telecommunications Industry Litigation Reporter, vol. 11, iss. 4, July 2007

“VoIP: The Future of Telephony is Now … If Regulation Doesn 't Get in the Way,” 1 Indian J. Law & Technology 47, 2005

“VoIP: Will Legal Uncertainty Shackle a Promising New Technology,” 2004

“Cities Should Stay Out of the Cable Business,” MultiChannel News, April 28, 2003

“Digital Must-Carry and Forced Access: Government-Mandated Access to Cable Distribution Networks in the U.S. and the E.U.,” Communications & Strategies, Issue 49, 1st Qtr. 2003

“Removing Barriers To Broadband Tenants: Common Carrier Access to Multi-Tenant Environments,” February 26, 2003

“Municipal Telephone and Cable Television Networks: The Wrong Path to Intelligent Cities,” September 1, 2002

“Legal and Regulatory Issues Affecting CLECS’ Access to Capital,” July 22, 2002

“Blocked at the Entrance: How Building Access and Rights-Of-Way Policies Impact Your Bottom Line,” March 5, 2002

“Building Access Primer,” 2002

“Municipal Regulation of CLEC Access to Public Rights-of-Way: Don’t Kill the Goose That Can Lay the Golden Egg!,” November 29, 2001

“Telecommunications Rights-of-Way White Paper,” November 1, 2001

“Forced Access: An Idea Whose Time Has Not, and Hopefully Will Not, Come,” March 21, 2000

“Getting and Protecting Competitive Business Information,” treatise, 1997

“INFORMATION LAW,” 2 vol. treatise, Practising Law Institute, pub. 1985, Supp. 1990

“Submitter Beware: The Perils of FOIA Implementing Regulations,” J. Amer. Intellectual Property, 1984

“A Practical Review of State Open Records Laws,” 49 Geo. Wash.L.Rev. 720, 1981

Memberships, Honors and Activities
District of Columbia Bar; Virginia Bar

U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Claims Court; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Federal Circuit, First Circuit, Third Circuit, Fourth Circuit, Fifth Circuit, Sixth Circuit, Eighth Circuit, and Tenth Circuit

American Bar Association, Government Information and Right to Privacy Committee, Section of Administrative Law (former vice chair)

International Lawyers Group (member, Executive Committee)

Washington SmartCEO magazine's 2007 “Legal Elite”

The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers - Communications Lawyers (International Bar Association, 2002-2007)

An International Who's Who of Telecoms Lawyers (1st and 2d editions)

National Security Archive, George Washington University (pro bono legal assistance)

Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (member, Board of Directors, Executive Committee)

Partners For Kids (member, business community advisory board to District of Columbia Child & Family Services Agency)

Annual District of Columbia Child & Family Services Agency Holiday Campaign for Foster Children

DC Works Student Intern Program (member, advisory board)

Mount Zion and Female Union Band Society Cemetery (volunteer/advisor)

Education
J.D., with Honors, The George Washington University Law School, 1969

• Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Law, 1968-69