Growing From Our Strengths

Prominent Media and First Amendment Lawyers Join DWT LLP

We recently had the honor of adding four exceptionally strong attorneys to our practice, joining us from Levine Sullivan Koch & Schultz, LLP (LSKS):

• Nathan Siegel, as a partner in the Washington, D.C., and New York offices
• Katherine M. Bolger, as a partner in the New York office
• Rachel Strom, as a partner in the New York office
• Adam Lazier, as an associate in the New York office

"Nathan, Kate, and Rachel have been well known to us over the years, as colleagues, co-counsel, and competitors," said James Rosenfeld, New York-based co-chair of the DWT media practice. "We've seen up close their tremendous dedication to the interests of their clients and highly skilled defense of those interests. They are a powerful addition to our team."

Nathan Siegel represents media clients in First Amendment, intellectual property, and entertainment law cases in trial and appellate courts throughout the country, and provides pre-broadcast and pre-publication counseling to a wide range of print and web publishers, television networks, and film producers. His clients range from ABC News, Tribune Company, and ESPN, to producers and broadcasters of reality television programs, and producers of award-winning documentaries like NY Med. Nathan is Chambers-ranked as a leading lawyer for D.C. Media & Entertainment and Nationwide First Amendment Litigation. He is past president of the Defense Counsel Section of the Media Law Resource Center and a member of the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law. Prior to LSKS, Nathan served as in-house litigation counsel at ABC Inc. where he supervised the defense of ABC News in the landmark Food Lion v. ABC case and many other matters.

Katherine M. Bolger is a widely recognized expert in First Amendment and defamation litigation and a leader in reporter's privilege cases and access matters for media outlets in New York. She regularly represents clients in efforts to open courtrooms and resist subpoenas for confidential sources and has obtained the dismissal of dozens of high-profile defamation cases on behalf of major news organizations, authors, publishers, and professional athletes. Most recently, she has represented media entities in connection with the trial of "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli and has successfully opposed efforts by Shkreli to compel several news organizations to reveal their sources. She was also part of the LSKS team that secured the appellate reversal of a $1.85 million jury verdict in favor of former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura in a suit alleging unjust enrichment and defamation. Kate is incoming chair of the New York City Bar Media and Communications Committee, currently serves on the governing committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law, and was previously co-chair of the ABA's First Amendment and Media Litigation Committee and Women in Communications Law Committee, as well as the Entertainment Law Committee of the MLRC. Prior to joining LSKS she was a partner at Hogan Lovells, where she co-chaired the media litigation and counseling practice group.

Rachel Strom's practice includes representing a number of new and digital media companies, including Vice, Slate, Gimlet Media, and Townsquare. She successfully served as lead counsel to Newsday, securing documents that had been withheld by the Town of Oyster Bay, N.Y.—to date eight people have been indicted in a massive public corruption investigation in the town. Along with a LSKS partner, Rachel also successfully defended Jimmy Kimmel and ABC against a misappropriation claim based on the use of the plaintiff's image in a comedy sketch on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." She currently serves on the MLRC Institute's board of trustees and as an adjunct professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and is past co-chair of the MLRC's Next Generation Media Lawyer Committee. Before joining LSKS in 2012, Rachel was a litigation associate in the media litigation and counseling group at Hogan Lovells.

Adam Lazier has experience representing clients in a wide range of content-related matters. Prior to joining LSKS, he completed an L.L.M. at New York University with a focus on media law and the First Amendment. He previously worked as a litigation associate at Blake, Cassels & Graydon in Toronto, specializing in media and defamation law, and served as law clerk to the Honorable J. Edgar Sexton of the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal.

"These are extraordinary times for the media business and for all creators of content," said Alexandra Nicholson, chair of the media, intellectual property, and technology practice at DWT. "I am thrilled to further strengthen our support of the media and entertainment industry, and the cause of free speech, with these four gifted lawyers in the prime of their careers."