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.
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.
Professional Highlights
Judicial Clerkships
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, 2020-2023, First Amendment Law, 2023, Media Law, 2023
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
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
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