The following list provides a sampling of noteworthy cases in which LSKS has obtained access to government records and proceedings.

Mulgrew v. Board of Education of the City of New York, 87 A.D.3d 506, 928 N.Y.S.2d 701 (1st Dep’t N.Y. 2011). LSKS represented Dow Jones, The New York Times, New York Daily News, New York Post and cable news network NY1 in a suit by the New York teachers’ union seeking to block the Board of Education from disclosing reports on teachers’ job performance. LSKS persuaded the appeals court that any potential privacy interest of the teachers was outweighed by a “compelling interest” in public disclosure, namely, the public’s right to know “the proficiency of public employees in the performance of their job duties.”

Levy v. Senate, 34 A.3d 243 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2011). LSKS successfully represented the Associated Press in its effort 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. In the first court case challenging the Pennsylvania legislature’s decision to withhold records under the state’s Right-to-Know Law, LSKS persuaded the Commonwealth Court to reject the Senate’s arguments that client identities are privileged and all descriptions of legal services must be redacted.

In re Accuride, Corp. (Bankr. D. Del. 2010). LSKS successfully represented The Wall Street Journal in a motion to unseal a report filed in bankruptcy court detailing the ownership positions in the debtor of various hedge funds. The court ruled that the newspaper should be permitted to intervene for the purpose of enforcing the public’s right of access, and held that the hedge funds had not provided sufficient evidence to justify keeping the information under seal.

Worldwest LLC v. Steamboat Springs School District, 37 Media L. Rptr. (BNA) 1663 (Colo. App. 2009). LSKS successfully represented a newspaper in challenging a school board’s closed-door meeting under the Colorado Open Meetings Law. The court held that the board violated the law by illegally making decisions at the meeting and conducting discussions without adequate public notice. The court ordered that the unredacted transcript of the meeting be made public.

In the Matter of the Application of the New York Times Co. for Access to Certain Sealed Court Records, 585 F. Supp. 2d 83 (D.D.C. 2008). LSKS represented The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times in their successful effort to gain access to sealed search warrant materials filed during the massive federal investigation into the deaths of five persons after several anthrax-laced letters were mailed to members of Congress and the news media following 9/11. Ruling on a matter of first impression in the D.C. Circuit, the court held that the First Amendment right of access extends to search warrant materials after the warrants have been executed.

Military Commission Press Access. After the Department of Defense permanently barred four reporters from covering the Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay in June 2010, LSKS protested their expulsion and was able to win their reinstatement by demonstrating that the Department’s action was an unconstitutional prior restraint and violated the reporters’ First Amendment right to attend criminal trials. The firm then successfully represented The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, The Wall Street Journal, the AP, and Reuters in petitioning the DOD to rewrite the ground rules that restricted reporters covering the Guantanamo Commissions.

In re Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation, 624 F. Supp. 2d 27 (D.D.C. 2009). The firm successfully represented The Associated Press, The New York Times, and USA Today in challenging the U.S. government's effort to keep secret the factual record in every habeas corpus proceeding brought by a Guantanamo Bay detainee. The court held that the public has a First Amendment right to access the records of habeas proceedings and ordered the government either to file publicly unclassified or declassified returns or justify the continued sealing of specific parts of the returns.

East Stroudsburg University Foundation v. Office of Open Records, 995 A.2d 496 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2010). In a case of first impression, LSKS successfully obtained records held by a government contractor that had been requested by a Dow Jones newspaper. The court embraced an expansive interpretation of the new Pennsylvania Right to Know Law, ruling that contractors must disclose all records directly related to the activities they perform for the government.

New York Civil Liberties Union v. New York City Transit Authority ,652 F.3d 247 (2d Cir. 2011). LSKS represented a media coalition as amici curiae in a case urging the recognition of a constitutional right of access to proceedings held by an administrative agency. The Second Circuit, citing LSKS’s brief, held that the First Amendment right of access extends beyond the judicial branch and invalidated the Transit Authority’s policy of giving individuals charged with violating transit rules the right to exclude the public from an administrative hearing on those charges.

Hartford Courant v. Pellegrino, 380 F.3d 83 (2d Cir. 2004). LSKS represented a media coalition as amici curiae in a case challenging a broad system of secret judicial proceedings administered by the Connecticut courts. At the request of the Second Circuit, LSKS presented oral argument in the appeal and helped to secure an important ruling articulating the fundamental First Amendment requirement that courts maintain a public docket of their proceedings.

In re ABC, Inc. (United States v. Stewart), 360 F.3d 90 (2d Cir. 2004). The firm represented a coalition of media organizations in an effort to secure access to voir dire proceedings in Martha Stewart’s criminal trial. After the district court held that the press and public would not be permitted to attend parts of the voir dire, the Second Circuit reversed, rejecting arguments that the substantial publicity surrounding the trial was a sufficient reason to conduct secret voir dire.

Associated Press v. Department of Defense, 410 F. Supp. 2d 147 (S.D.N.Y. 2006). LSKS represented The Associated Press in an action under the Freedom of Information Act that required the Department of Defense to disclose the names and other identifying information for each of the Guantanamo Bay detainees.