From inquiry letters to litigation, we have gained unrestricted and unprecedented access to public and court records and proceedings, even when those records and proceedings were otherwise restricted from full public view.  We are contributing authors to The Right to Know: A Guide to Public Access and Media Law, published by the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the California First Amendment Coalition.

Access to Records

Successfully represented the California First Amendment Coalition and the Riverside Press-Enterprise in a case of first impression under Proposition 59, California’s new constitutional open government and right of access mandate, seeking a settlement agreement entered into by the Court in a separate, underlying case.


• Established the parameters of the California Public Records Act in case involving post-investigation files maintained by district attorney’s office.

Cameras in Courtrooms

• On behalf of Court TV Professional, a provider of subscription-based webcast services, we successfully argued to have cameras in the courtroom for a trial in Los Angeles County for the first time since the O.J. Simpson case.
  
  
• Succeeded in obtaining a Court of Appeal’s reversal of a trial court’s order blocking publication of photographs taken in a courtroom.  Los Angeles Times v. Superior Court, 30 Media Law Reporter 2343 (2002).
  
  
• Argued on behalf of news media clients to have still cameras present for the trial of an accused murderer and kidnapper.

Access to Proceedings

• Represented major metropolitan newspaper in gaining unconditional and unprecedented access to a juvenile dependency proceeding in Orange County, California.
  
  
• Defeated effort to exclude the media from opening statements in the Ventura County, California trial of a mother accused of killing her children.