Contact: Mark Fefer, Marketing Communications, 206.757.8583 or markfefer@dwt.com
AUGUST 31, 2021 – After securing critical, headline-making wins for Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and other clients, Ambika Kumar was named an MVP of the Year in Media & Entertainment by Law360.
Kumar, a partner in Davis Wright Tremaine's Seattle office and co-chair of the firm's renowned media practice, is the sixth straight Davis Wright lawyer to earn this recognition.
Kumar has built a distinctive practice that applies free speech principles to the emerging digital world as well as other nontraditional settings. A go-to lawyer on content liability, electronic privacy, and other cutting-edge issues, she has successfully litigated on behalf of diverse clients that include the world's leading tech companies, traditional news media, digital-first journalism, online platforms and aggregators, activist short-sellers, and political advocacy groups.
Her achievements this past year, in partnership with her clients and colleagues, include:
- Securing an order by a Pennsylvania federal court enjoining the Trump administration's plan to ban TikTok
- Securing a decision at the 3rd Circuit, upholding dismissal of a right-of-publicity claim based on Microsoft's "Gears of War" videogame franchise
- Defeating a motion to force Amazon Web Services to resume providing hosting services to the social networking site Parler
- Defending Facebook in Florida federal court from defamation claims by blogger and former Congressional candidate Laura Loomer
- Winning an extraordinary writ of mandate at the California Court of Appeal, directing the lower court to dismiss trade libel and other claims against Muddy Waters Capital LLC
- Securing an order in the 11th Circuit dismissing claims that Amazon discriminated on the basis of religion by excluding the plaintiff, an opponent of same-sex marriage, from eligibility for donations through the AmazonSmile program
"Simply put, Ambika is one of the leading lawyers of her generation," said Alexandra Nicholson, New York-based chair of Davis Wright Tremaine's media, entertainment, and intellectual property practice. "Clients love her, not just for the results she achieves but for the extraordinary service and strategic guidance she provides along the way."
Last year, the National Law Journal named Kumar to its inaugural list of First Amendment Trailblazers.
Kumar maintains an active pro bono practice. She's currently in litigation to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from selectively targeting undocumented immigration-rights activists for deportation. ICE has twice tried and failed to get the case dismissed.
About Davis Wright Tremaine
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw100 law firm with more than 600 lawyers representing clients based across the United States and around the world. For more information, visit www.dwt.com.