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

10 am Introduction by PMC President 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, Esq. (Media Law Counsel, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association) and Paul Safier, Esq. (Ballard Spahr)

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

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

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

Panelists: Eli Segal, Esq. (Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC) and Chris Brennan (USA Today)

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

Panelists: Paula Knudsen Burke, Esq. (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) and Terry Mutchler, Esq. (Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP)

2:55- 3 Closing