One-Day Law School for Journalists

Our One-Day Law School for Journalists™ is an intensive program designed to support journalists and others in the media who face the challenge of reporting on the court system without a law degree.

2025 Schedule

August 14, 2025 – One Day Law School for Journalists

10 am Introduction (Debbie Gross)

10:10-11:00 am Preliminary Injunctions 101 – What they are and what they are not 

Panelists: Prof. David Sonenshein, Sozi Tulante, Esq. (Dechert LLP) and Judge Mark Kearney (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)

11:05 – noon Understand what the media/press can and cannot do inside the courtroom and its environs

Panelists – Melissa Melewsky and Paul Safier

12:10-1:10 Roundtable discussion on the tension between disclosure of information about the judiciary and threats to the judiciary

Panelists: Matt Schafer (CBS/Paramount), Christopher Mohr (President of the Software & Information Industry Association), Ret. Judge Paul Wilson (MA. Superior), moderator Amy Sanders (Penn State)

1:15- 2:05 Is there a journalist privilege? And for whom? And protecting what?

Panelists – Eli Segal, Chris Brennan

2:05-2:55 Obtaining bodycam footage and law enforcement records in PA  

Panelist - Paula Knudsen Burke

2:55- 3 Closing