The Legal Advocacy Project

Activist organizations and journalists play key roles in our democratic process. They act as a two-way conduit between government and the people it serves: informing the people of the operation of government and advocating the people's concerns to the government. When there is the threat of litigation arising from these activities or a failure to allow proper access to government, and the flow of information is disrupted in either direction, the system suffers. Unfortunately, these individuals and organizations rarely have the financial resources to mount a legal defense or initiate a legal action. And their opponents know this.

 

 
 

Legal Services

By providing free and low-cost legal services to its colleagues in the non-profit community and individual activists and journalists, FAP helps deflect the damage and disruption that accompanies such litigation. Although, FAP provides legal representation for the broad range of free press and free expression issues, FAP's legal activities are concentrated in three areas:

  1. Defending "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" — SLAPPs — merit-less lawsuits designed to deter the defendant from exercising his or her First Amendment rights.
  2. Bringing freedom of information lawsuits under California's public records and open meetings laws.
  3. Producing amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs to courts across the country presenting otherwise unrepresented First Amendment issues.

FAP also provides litigation support to other attorneys who are willing to represent these clients, but are not well-versed in First Amendment issues.

The need for such services is great. FAP commonly lacks the capacity to take on all of the opportunities for representation presented to it. FAP's clients typically have no other options. If they cannot afford to pay for legal services, they have to accede to their opponent's tactics.

Likewise, activists and advocacy organizations often lack the resources to hire attorneys to write amicus curiae briefs. These briefs, submitted by those who are not parties to the lawsuit but with strong interests in its outcome, are commonly filed by large trade groups, commercial enterprises, and organizations with deep pockets to ensure that their interests are presented to the court. Those who cannot afford these briefs are often left out of the process and their voices go unheard.

Objectives

  • To provide free and low-cost legal services to journalists, nonprofit advocacy organizations, and individual activists in California whose First Amendment rights, and thus their abilities to be effective advocates, are threatened.
  • To serve as a mainspring of legal resources to activists, journalists and artists nationwide.
  • To produce amicus curiae briefs in courts throughout the country to ensure that the First Amendment rights of those without financial resources to otherwise appear are adequately presented.

Activities

  • To Meet Objectives: Provide direct legal representation defending lawsuits arising from advocacy activity and in freedom of information matters.
  • Monitor litigation nationwide and author amicus curiae briefs on cutting edge First Amendment topics.
  • Maintain operation of telephone and computer-based hotlines to provide general advice to activists, journalists, and artists across the country.
  • Initiate First Amendment Fellowship.

FAP's Legal Record

FAP has provided free and low-cost legal services to individuals, civic and advocacy organizations, journalists and media organizations since its founding in 1990. Over the past 10 years, FAP has been a pioneer in defending cases under California's Anti-SLAPP law, is a respected authority on suits to obtain public records, and has assisted in numerous cases dealing with cutting edge First Amendment issues.

FAP has obtained dismissals of (SLAPP) lawsuits against, for example:

  • a small trade newspaper sued for printing a letter to the editor critical of a large corporation;
  • a single mother sued after she asked school authorities to investigate an abuse charge against a teacher;
  • an environmental activist sued by the federal governmental agency when she opposed an incinerator project slated for a low-income neighborhood;
  • an insurance industry watchdog sued for requesting records from the state that would prove the extent of racial redlining by the plaintiff company;
  • and a local environmental group sued by a developer for publicly opposing a major commercial development.

In the public records context, FAP has helped obtain:

  • records from a local utility district of the names of those using excessive amounts of water;
  • fire and dispatch tapes revealing errors in fire prevention efforts;
  • and records of police misconduct.

And FAP has been involved in the following cutting edge First Amendment Issues:

  • FAP was a member of the legal team that successfully challenged the U.S. government's encryption export restrictions as an unconstitutional restraint on expression.
  • FAP currently represents an individual who was hit with a court order that he cease publication on an Internet bulletin board of a link to a computer code.
  • FAP filed an action to help a federal criminal defendant attempt to obtain confidential government records that may have corroborated his defense.
  • In the past two years, FAP has co-authored amicus briefs addressing such diverse topics as the rights of legitimate arts organizations to present works that contain nudity, the reliability of social science research to justify minors' access to certain media, and the rights of the on-line press to be free from legal liability for publishing links to other web sites.