I am an attorney and scholar focused on legal issues involving the media, including the internet and social media.  I hold the Reid H. Montgomery Chair in Freedom of Information at the University of South Carolina, where I teach media and internet law as an associate professor at the USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications and an Academic Affiliate of the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law. I am also “of counsel” to Fenno Law in Charleston/Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

Previously I taught media law and ethics at Louisiana State University, the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, Baruch College (CUNY), and the University of Nevada, Reno. I was also co-director of the Press Law and Democracy Project at Louisiana State University, and deputy director of the National Center for Courts and Media at the University of Nevada, Reno.

I was also of counsel to First Amendment attorney Cynthia Counts; an affiliate scholar with the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society; a staff attorney at the Media Law Resource Center; and a legal fellow at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. I have also worked as an attorney and policy aide for federal, state and local government officials.

Besides my teaching and professional experience in media law, I also have an active research agenda on media and internet and social media law issues.

I have published several books as well as articles in several academic, legal and professional journals and encyclopedias. I am co-author of Cyber Law and Ethics: Regulation of the Connected World (1st edition 2021, 2d edition 2025) and a contributor to the sixth and seventh editions of the widely used textbook Media Law and Ethics (2021, 2025). I was the sole author of Reckless Disregard: St. Amant v. Thompson and the Transformation of Libel Law (2018), as well as lead contributor and editorial reviewer for Internet Law: The Complete Guide (2016-2019).

I am a recognized expert on legal issues involving new media and technology, and have has spoken at numerous academic and professional conferences and has appeared in the media many times discussing media and internet law issues, including Boston Globe, the Associated Press, Oregon Public Radio, and The New York Times (full list here). I also write a monthly media law column for the South Carolina Press Association.

Profiles and Social Media Links:

• Academia.edu
• FennoLaw
• Google Scholar
• LinkedIn
• Orcid
• ResearchGate
• University of South Carolina
  • College of Information and Communications
  • Rule of Law collaborative