Gayle represents a range of clients including newspapers, magazines, local television and radio stations, and national television networks. Gayle helped open LSKS’s New York office in 2003 and then opened the firm’s Philadelphia office in 2005.

Gayle served as law clerk to the Honorable John P. Fullam of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Before joining LSKS, Gayle practiced at Dechert LLP, where she was a member of the firm’s media law group, and, prior to that experience, worked for seven years as a member of the in-house law department of National Broadcasting Company, Inc., at its New York headquarters.

Notable Representations

Baker v. Goldman Sachs & Co., 669 F.3d 105 (2d Cir. 2012). Gayle successfully moved to quash a subpoena to a former Wall Street Journal reporter. The district court granted the motion, ruling that the information sought in the subpoena was protected by the New York Shield Law and was not critical or necessary to the plaintiffs’ claims. The Second Circuit agreed and further rejected the plaintiffs’ promise to confine their questioning to information published in the Journal. The court held that the impact of cross-examination must also be evaluated in determining whether the Shield Law should apply, and in this case concluded that the privilege could not be overcome.

Levy v. Senate, 34 A.3d 243 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2011). Gayle successfully represented the Associated Press and its reporter Marc Levy in the first court case challenging the Pennsylvania legislature’s decision to withhold records under the state’s Right-to-Know Law. In the case, the AP sought to obtain attorney billing records submitted by Senate employees for reimbursement in the wake of FBI raids on the house and business of a leading state senator. The Commonwealth Court rejected the Senate’s arguments that client identities are privileged and all descriptions of legal services must be redacted.

Raintree Homes, Inc. v. Birkbeck (Monroe Cty C.C.P., Pa. Sept. 8, 2011). Gayle and Mike Berry successfully defended The Pocono Record (a Dow Jones publication) in a defamation trial in which the plaintiffs claimed that the newspaper falsely accused them of selling homes at inflated prices using inflated appraisals, often leading buyers into foreclosure. After a nine-day trial in which the plaintiffs were seeking over $27 million in damages, the jury unanimously decided in under two hours that the articles were true.  The trial court subsequently denied the plaintiffs' motion for a new trial, rejecting each of plaintiffs' post-trial challenges and affirming the jury's verdict.

Brokers’ Choice v. NBC Universal, Inc., 2011 WL 97236 (D. Colo. Jan. 12, 2011). Gayle and Tom Kelley successfully defended NBC against libel, intrusion, trespass, fraud, and civil rights claims arising from an undercover investigative report broadcast on Dateline NBC. The court dismissed the claims because, among other things, plaintiffs could not establish that NBC’s characterization of their comments or its omission of certain hidden camera footage made the broadcast false.