A new legal network, buoyed by a law school research center and a host of law school clinics, was recently launched to offer burgeoning media ventures legal counsel.
The Online Media Legal Network (OMLN), an initiative of the Citizen Media Law Project, is designed to match new media creators with lawyers and law firms, school clinical programs and in-house counsel so that the journalistic ventures can receive pro bono legal assistance while pursuing new media avenues.
OMLN is supported by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Arizona State University’s Center for Citizen Media. The initiative is based out of the Berkman Center on the HLS campus.
“OMLN provides a structure to address the legal needs of journalists working in a rapidly-changing industry,” said Diane Heins of Faegre & Benson LLP, a participating law firm, on the OMLN website. ”The availability of high-quality pro bono assistance will ensure that the standards, protections and values associated with traditional journalism remain constant in the face of technological innovation.”
The legal services offered by OMLN include business formation and governance, copyright licensing and fair use, access to government information, pre-publication review of content, and litigation representation.
In addition to participating law firms, a number of law school clinics have signed up to offer services, including programs from the University of Washington School of Law, the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, among others.
For more information on OMLN, please visit the network’s website.
