Mara J. Gassmann's practice focuses on litigating and counseling news, entertainment, and other media clients in a wide range of matters implicating their First Amendment and intellectual property rights.
Before beginning her legal career, Mara was a spokesperson for CNN in its Washington, D.C., bureau. During law school, she returned to CNN as a freelance legal writer during the confirmation hearings of Justice Sonia Sotomayor and worked with Reporters Without Borders analyzing the applicability of U.S. asylum law for foreign journalists.
Mara previously was with the highly regarded First Amendment boutique law firm Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, which merged with Ballard Spahr in October 2017.
Experience
Representative Matters
- Defended the Associated Press against a libel claim brought by a Russian oligarch who objected to an AP report detailing his past business relationship with Paul Manafort, one-time manager of President Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The court granted the AP's motion to dismiss after finding that the oligarch, a billionaire close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a public figure who failed to plausibly allege that AP published the report with "actual malice," as the First Amendment requires. The court further found that he failed to identify anything materially false in the AP report.
- Obtained victories in federal trial and appellate courts on behalf of International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflicts around the globe, in a long-running case brought by a Serbian businessman who claimed that he was defamed in a Crisis Group report analyzing political turmoil in Serbia. Following extensive discovery and numerous judicial proceedings spanning multiple countries on two continents, the U.S. district court in Washington, D.C., granted summary judgment for Crisis Group. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed in a unanimous opinion holding that the plaintiff, a billionaire supporter and friend of Serbia's late prime minister, was a public figure unable to show clear and convincing evidence of actual malice, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied the plaintiff's petition for review.
Professional Highlights
Judicial Clerkships
Hon. Leonie M. Brinkema, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Professional Activities
D.C. Open Government Coalition, Board of Directors
National Press Club
Media Law Resource Center, Prepublication Committee
American University, Adjunct Professor
Loyola University Maryland, Affiliate Professor
Recognition & Accomplishments
The Best Lawyers in America, "Ones to Watch," Commercial Litigation, 2023
Publications
"Sheriff Joe Turned Away By D.C. Federal Court," MLRC MediaLawLetter, August 2019
"Once More Unto the Breach: An Update on the Reporters' Shield Bill," MLRC MediaLawLetter, July 2018
"Anonymous Online Speech," Communications Law in the Digital Age, 2015 (including 2016 and 2017 updates)
Credentials
Education
Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., magna cum laude, 2011)
Order of the Coif
Admissions
Virginia
District of Columbia
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois