Media-law symposium features distinguished lineup

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the School of Law at University of California-Irvine, lectures law and journalism students about the Internet's impact on media law Nov. 14 during the Reynolds Media-Law Symposium. Photo by Kevin Remington.

Late last month, as he looked over a schedule for W&L’s second annual Donald W. Reynolds  Media-Law Symposium, Dean of the Law School Rodney Smolla said, “This promises to be one of the most exciting programs of the year.”

The school year still has six months to go, but the lineup of distinguished speakers who convened for the two-day symposium Nov. 14-15 may be difficult to top. The symposium was a cooperative effort of the School of Law and the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications.

The Law School invited Erwin Chemerinsky, the founding dean of the new law school at the University of California, Irvine, and a nationally known expert in constitutional law; and the Hon. Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a well-known free-speech advocate and a name on several short lists for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Journalism Department brought in Jim Brady, vice president and executive editor of the Washington Post’s online division, Washingtonpost.com; John Harris, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Politico newspaper and website Politico.com; and Jeanne Cummings, the chief lobbying and money correspondent at Politico and, formerly a political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

“The Wild, Wild Web: Free Speech, Libel, and the First Amendment in the Digital Age" was the theme of the symposium, which opened on Friday morning with a moot court exercise conducted by Dean Smolla. After Smolla “swore in” the audience as temporary Supreme Court members, he argued each side of a hypothetical case involving libel, invasion of privacy and a Web site he dubbed “Sleazycampus.com.” The “Supreme Court” reached a split decision.

The rest of the day featured presentations by Chemerinsky, Kozinski, Brady and Harris, who all fielded questions from the audience. 

The symposium continued Saturday morning with a panel discussion featuring Cummings, Smolla and Robert Strong, associate provost at W&L and Wilson Professor of Politics. The panel, moderated by Brian Richardson, head of the Department of Journalism Department, tackled the subject “Can They Say That?: Protections and Political Speech on the Web.”

With presidential politics still dominating the national conversation, it’s not surprising that the panelists touched on such subjects as campaign strategy, John McCain’s comment that “the economy is fundamentally sound,” and Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe.    

The symposium was held in the Law School’s Millhiser Moot Court Room and all sessions were open to the public. The symposium was made possible by a grant from The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

The Foundation has awarded more than $4 million to the university’s Journalism Department to establish professorships in business journalism and legal reporting, to fund summer internships in business and political journalism, and to enhance interdisciplinary teaching programs in business, law and journalism.