Nathan Siegel

Partner

Media clients often turn to Nathan Siegel with their most challenging cases and thorniest questions. He represents media companies in First Amendment, intellectual property, and entertainment law cases in trial and appellate courts throughout the country. Additionally, Nathan provides pre-broadcast and pre-publication counseling to a wide range of print and web publishers, television networks, and film producers.

What Best Lawyers has called Nathan's "practical, client-friendly approach" focuses on sizing up complex matters at the outset, and then partnering with each client to choose and implement the strategy that best reflects its objectives. He handles defamation, privacy and all manner of media tort claims, and litigates copyright, trademark, right of publicity, theft of idea and other disputes over rights to media content. Nathan is a past President of the Defense Counsel Section of the Media Law Resource Center, the largest national organization of media defense counsel, and is a member of the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law.

Practice Highlights

High profile defamation cases

Nathan has successfully represented major media clients such as ABC News, CBS News, and ESPN in defamation lawsuits, often brought by celebrity or political personalities. He is currently defending Buzzfeed News in multiple defamation suits challenging its publication of the "Dossier,"; one of the most closely-watched battles for press freedom in the current era.

Cutting edge right of publicity and IP Lawsuits

Over the past decade, Nathan has represented the broadcast media or the video game industry in virtually every major case that tests the publicity rights of athletes in video games and television sports broadcasts. His impact on this still-emerging body of law can be seen in cases like Marshall v. ESPN, where the Sixth Circuit rebuffed a class action to fundamentally alter the rights of broadcasters to control the content of their sports broadcasts. Nathan has also litigated numerous copyright and trademark disputes, including successfully defending novel lawsuits testing the limits of doctrines such as fair use and equitable estoppel.

Defending media freedoms

Nathan regularly advises and defends the news and film media against all manner of threats to journalists and documentarians. His experience includes advising The Guardian concerning its reporting about documents released by WikiLeaks, represented New York Times, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Baltimore Sun journalists resisting subpoenas for confidential sources, and successfully defended lawsuits challenging award-winning documentaries like Under the Gun and NY Med.

Sandmann v. ABC News

Defending ABC News in a defamation lawsuit over ABC's reporting about the controversial encounter between Native American protestors and high school students from Covington, Kentucky, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019. (E.D. Ky. Ongoing)

Krawatsky v. The New York Jewish Week

Defended The New York Jewish Week and one of its reporters in a libel lawsuit arising from several articles regarding allegations of sexual misconduct. The court granted our motion for summary judgment. (Md. Cir. Ct. 2018)

J. Roe v. FX Networks, et al.

Defended FX Networks, et al. is a matter in which a plaintiff, suing anonymously as J. Roe, has asserted claims against our client FX Networks for defamation and false light invasion of privacy. The lawsuit arose out of FXN's "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story," an award-winning docudrama series about the serial killer who murdered fashion icon Gianni Versace in the late 1990s. (Los Angeles Cnty. (Calif.) Super. Ct. 2019)

Gubarev et al. v. BuzzFeed, Inc. et ano.

Obtained dismissal of libel claim brought against BuzzFeed and Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith by Russian tech entrepreneur and web-hosting companies named in what is now known as the "Steele Dossier," which was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017. The court granted our motion for summary judgment on the grounds that BuzzFeed's publication of the dossier was protected by the fair report privilege and the First Amendment. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their appeal to the 11th Circuit. (S.D. Fla. 2019; 11th Cir. 2021)

Fridman et al. v. BuzzFeed, Inc. et ano.

Defended BuzzFeed and employees in libel suit brought by three Russian oligarchs named in what is now known as the "Steele Dossier," which was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017. After the First Department ruled in our clients' favor on the plaintiffs' pleading motion, the trial court granted our motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew their appeal to the First Department. (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2021; N.Y. App. Div. 2022)

*Denotes an attorney's experience prior to joining Davis Wright Tremaine

Admitted to Practice

District of Columbia, 1995
Maryland, 1992
New York, 1998
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, 1996
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, 1993
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1999
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York, 2009
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, 2013

Education

J.D., Yale Law School, 1992
B.A., Economics/History, Duke University, 1986
- A.B. Duke Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa

Memberships & Affiliations

- Governing Committee, ABA Forum on Communications Law
- Former President, Media Law Resource Center
- Co-Editor, Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, published by Southwestern Law School
- Board of Trustees, Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association
- Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland Law School, Free Press Seminar, 2006-Present
- Former Chair of the Model Shield Law Task Force and the New Legal Developments Committee, Media Law Resource Center
- Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism, 1994-1996

Professional Recognition

- Named one of "America's Leading Lawyers for Business" by Chambers USA in First Amendment Litigation (Nationwide), 2017-2025; Media & Entertainment (D.C.), 2018-2025; eceived "Band 1" ranking, 2024-2025
- Named one of the "Best Lawyers in America" by Best Lawyers in Media Law, 2010-present, in Litigation - First Amendment, 2013-present
- Recognized as a "Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer" by Thomson Reuters in Media and Advertising Law, 2009-2025
- Named as one of "500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports & Media Lawyers" by Lawdragon, 2025
- Named an "MVP of the Year" by Law360 in Media & Entertainment, 2023
- Named to the "Top Lawyers Hall of Fame" by Washingtonian Magazine, 2022
- Recognized as a top media lawyer in the District of Columbia by The Washingtonian Magazine
- Featured as part of the nation's top-ranked First Amendment law practice in The Legal 500

Background

- Partner, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP, Wash., D.C., 2005-2017
- Executive Counsel, ABC, Inc., New York, NY and Wash, D.C., 1996-2004
- Associate, Venable LLP, Baltimore, MD, 1992-1996