Ashley I. Kissinger

Of Counsel She / Her / Hers

Boulder

Tel 303.376.2407
Fax 303.296.3956

Denver

Tel 303.376.2407
Fax 303.296.3956

Ashley Kissinger has represented media and entertainment companies, journalists, online speakers, and other content creators in First Amendment and related matters for over 20 years. Resident in Colorado, Ashley has a nationwide practice; she has defended complex defamation, privacy, and copyright infringement cases in 15 states from coast to coast and in the District of Columbia. She works closely with her clients to help them publish and broadcast their work with minimal risk, get access to government documents and proceedings, and fight against government censorship. She leverages her media law expertise to defend non-media companies facing copyright and defamation lawsuits, and to advise them concerning their social media and other communications.

Ashley is widely recognized as a thought leader on anonymous online speech law. She is also an advocate for the development of a free and independent press in the Arabian Peninsula. Ashley has drafted proposed amendments to press laws, helped reporters develop a code of ethics, and taught free expression law to lawyers, editors, and journalists in Yemen, Kuwait, Jordan, and elsewhere in the region.

Services

Experience

Representative Matters

Garcia Torres v. City of Scranton, PA (pre-suit settlement 2021). With the ACLU, successfully represented restaurant owner in challenging citation for violating sign ordinance. The City reversed the citation and amended its sign ordinance to remove provision banning signs "that an average reasonable person would find highly offensive to public decency."
Donald J . Trump for President, Inc. v. Northland TV, LLC, No. 20-cv-385-wmc (W.D. Wis.). Successfully defended Wisconsin television station in defamation suit brought by President Trump’s campaign after station aired political ad criticizing Trump’s handling of coronavirus pandemic.
Ellis v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., No. CV 18-10077 MRW (C.D. Cal.), No. 19-56413 (9th Cir.). Defended commercial data and analytics company in defamation and privacy action.

Landman v. Scott, No. 1:19-cv-01367-REB-STV (D. Colo. 2019). With the ACLU, successfully represented constituent in First Amendment civil rights action against state senator who had blocked her from commenting on his social media pages. The senator agreed to unblock the constituent and pay $25,000 in attorney’s fees, and agreed to entry of a court order reciting the outcome of social media blocking cases nationwide.
Nichols v. Mincks, No. 18 OT 61 (Ohio Ct. Comm. Pleas, Washington Cty. 2019). Obtained summary judgment in defamation action arising from television station’s broadcast of news report identifying plaintiff as a rape suspect.
Cooper v. WOWT-TV Channel 6 Gray Television Group Inc., No. CI-18-2674 (Neb. Dist. Ct., Douglas Cty. 2018). Obtained dismissal of defamation action arising from televised news reports concerning misdemeanor charge arising from a dispute over a parking ticket.
Elec. Frontier Found. v. Global Entity Mgmt. (SA), Pty Ltd, 290 F. Supp. 3d 923 (N.D. Cal. 2017). Obtained a declaratory judgment for digital rights leader EFF under the SPEECH Act, a federal statute enacted in 2010 to combat "libel tourism." The court held that an Australian defamation injunction attempting to censor EFF’s "Stupid Patent of the Month" column was repugnant to U.S. law and public policy.
People v. Collins, No. 16CR1882 (Colo. Dist. Ct., Boulder Cty. 2016). Successfully challenged, on behalf of the Boulder Daily Camera, a motion to seal the case file of a juvenile defendant charged as an adult with attempted murder. The court’s ruling recognized, as a matter of first impression in Colorado, a First Amendment right to access court records filed in criminal proceedings, even in cases involving juvenile defendants. Ashley also persuaded the court to vacate an unconstitutional prior restraint order it had entered earlier in the case that would have forbidden the newspaper from publishing information contained in an arrest warrant affidavit.
Dan Larscheid, D.D.S. v. Scripps Media, Inc. d/b/a/ KMGH-TV, No. 13-CV-33746 (Colo. Dist. Ct., Denver Cty. 2014). Successfully defended television station in a defamation action arising from an investigative news report. The court granted the station's motion to dismiss and awarded its attorneys' fees.
Hupp v. Freedom Communications, 221 Cal. App. 4th 398 (4th Dist. 2013). Successfully defended the Orange County Register against breach of contract and invasion of privacy claims based on the newspaper's refusal to remove reader comments posted on its website. The trial court's dismissal of the suit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute was upheld on appeal and the court awarded the paper its attorneys' fees.
Webb v. CBS Broadcasting Inc., 2011 WL 4062488 (N.D. Ill. 2011). Successfully defended Chicago television station WBBM-TV against claims that it invaded plaintiffs' privacy and caused emotional distress by filming them in the backyard of a home in connection with a CBS news report. The case stands as a significant precedent vindicating the news media's right to photograph persons and activities in "plain view" from a public street.
Rossignol v. Voorhaar, 316 F.3d 516 (4th Cir. 2003). Successfully represented Maryland newspaper publisher in civil rights action against government officials, securing a landmark ruling that the defendants' off-duty mass purchase of newspapers on the eve of an election, to suppress the newspaper’s contents and retaliate against the publisher, violated the publisher’s First Amendment rights. The officials paid the publisher close to a half million dollars in settlement of the action.

Professional Highlights

Judicial Clerkships

Hon. Sam Sparks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 1995-1997

Professional Activities

Co-Chair, Legal Frontiers in Digital Media Conference 2020 & 2021, San Francisco, Media Law Resource Center

Member, Journalism Funding Partners Board of Directors

Past Co-Chair, ABA First Amendment and Media Litigation Committee

Recognition & Accomplishments

The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation-First Amendment, 2020-2024, First Amendment Law, 2023 and 2024, Media Law, 2023 and 2024

5280 Top Lawyer in Media/First Amendment law, 2015-2020, 2022

Recognized individually by The Legal 500 US as part of the nation's top-ranked First Amendment law practice, with clients describing her as "intellectually keen" and "a pleasure to work with."

Law Week Colorado, People's Choice for Best Communications/Media Law Attorney, 2015

Speaking Engagements

"Providing Security to Journalists," Ballard Spahr Webinar, December 8, 2020

"Subpoenas and Shield Laws," Media Law Conference, Media Law Resource Center, October 1, 2020

"Protecting Anonymous Online Speech," Media Law Resource Center, Digital Law Conference, San Francisco, May 21, 2019

"Litigating Online Speech Cases: Perspectives from Both Sides of the Bar," Colorado Women's Bar Association Annual Convention, May 18, 2019

"We Wish We Hadn’t Posted That! Legal Risks Associated with Your Public-Facing Communications,” Association of Corporate Counsel – Colorado Chapter, November 29, 2018

"Help Your Business Clients Reduce Risk from Social Media Posts and Other Communications," Colorado Bar Association – Business Law Institute, Denver, September 12, 2018

"How to Keep Your Clients (and Yourself!) From Getting Sued for Defamation," Colorado Bar Association, Englewood, Colorado, April 5, 2018

"Hold the Presses? But I Thought the Student Press was 'Independent'!" National Association of College and University Attorneys, Washington, D.C., February 1, 2018

"Corporate Communications: The Legal Minefields and How to Avoid Them," Boulder County Bar Association, Boulder, Colorado, June 14, 2017

"Privacy and the Media," University of Colorado Law School (Guest Lecturer), Boulder, Colorado, September 8, 2016

"The Hottest Ethical Issues: Native Advertising, Virtual Reality, and 360 Video," Media Financial Management Association 56th Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, May 25, 2016

"Investigative Journalism: What are the Legal and Ethical Boundaries?" Media Financial Management Association 53rd Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 21, 2013

"Ethics in Media: What Risks Arise When Journalists Use Social Media?" Media Financial Management Association 52nd Annual Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, May 22, 2012

"Legal Risks Online," Colorado Broadcasters Association, Denver, Colorado, March 2, 2012

"Unmasking John Doe: The Law Governing Subpoenas for Anonymous Online Speakers," Denver Internet Lawyers Working Group, Denver, Colorado, March 3, 2011

"The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same? Protection for Defamatory, Offensive and Anonymous Speech in the Analog and Digital Eras," ABA Forum on Communications Law 16th Annual Conference, Rancho Mirage, California, February 4, 2011

"Yemeni Journalist Syndicate Working Sessions," International Research and Exchanges Board Inc. (IREX), Amman, Jordan, May 24-27, 2009

"Navigating Your Way Through Legal Issues on the Web," Radio-Television News Directors Association, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 2009

"Rights of Protestors, Demonstrators and the Press," presentation for Denver-area law enforcement agencies in connection with the Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 13, 2008

"Media Law in the Gulf: Judiciary and Freedom of Press Workshop," International Research and Exchanges Board Inc. (IREX), Kuwait City, Kuwait, June 9-10, 2007

"International Freedom of Expression Law," training for Kuwaiti journalists, editors, lawyers, and government officials hosted by Kuwait Journalists Association (on a grant from Middle East Partnership Initiative, U.S. Department of State), June 4-6, 2007, Kuwait City, Kuwait

"Media Laws in the Arabian Gulf and Yemen: Opportunities and Challenges," International Research and Exchanges Board Inc. (IREX), Amman, Jordan, December 7-8, 2006

Publications

"Anonymous Online Speech," Communications Law in the Digital Age, Practising Law Institute, 2009-2022

"The Truth About Fake News," The Financial Manager, May/June 2017

"The Internet: Anonymous Speakers to the Single-Publication Rule," Newsletter of the ABA Litigation Section’s First Amendment and Media Litigation Committee, Winter 2011

Related Insights

Credentials

Education

University of Texas School of Law (J.D. 1995, with honors)

Associate Editor, Texas Law Review

Stanford University (A.B. 1990)

Stanford-in-Florence, Florence, Italy, Spring 1989

Admissions

California

Colorado

District of Columbia

New York

Texas

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and District of Columbia Circuits

U.S. District Courts for the District of Colorado

U.S. District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of Texas