Ms. Cynthia L. Counts

has more than 25 years of trial and appellate experience. Over the course of the past two decades she has built a national media law practice. She is best known for an aggressive motions practice, and has had consistent success in winning cases in the early stages of litigation. She focuses on libel, privacy, false advertising, newsgathering torts, copyright, media and First Amendment law . Ms. Counts defends not only media, telecom companies, and other corporate clients, but also smaller individuals, newspapers, websites, television stations and small businesses in libel, copyright and trademark infringement claims, as well as breach of contract, invasion of privacy, fraud and promissory estoppel cases. Ms. Counts has been at the forefront of the quest for a broad application of Georgia’s anti-SLAPP statute, enacted in 1996 to provide an early mechanism for the dismissal of harassing libel litigation.

Ms. Counts also litigated successfully for clients with free speech concerns: from those speaking out about assisted suicide, to individuals facing anti-gay discrimination in requests for vanity license plates, to those wrongfully arrested for verbally criticizing law enforcement, or for uttering profanities in a public meeting.

Ms. Counts is a sought-after commentator and writer on libel, privacy, Internet, the First Amendment and open government law. She also has been selected as one of Georgia’s Super Lawyers and is AV Preeminent Peer Review rated by Martindale-Hubbell. She was also listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.

Memberships include the governing board of the ABA Forum on Communications Law; the board of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation; and co-chair of the Media Law Resource Center’s Newsgathering Committee and annual Conference Planning Committee; and the annual Georgia Bar Media & Judicial Conference Planning Committee.

A group of students successfully petitioned Emory Law School to add a Media Communications Law Course and to have Ms. Counts serve as an adjunct professor. She inspired several of her students to attend law school.

Education: 1992 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law and a 1989 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with honors.

Resume

Experience

•Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2015-present
•Counts Law Group
- Owner/Managing Partner, 2000-2015
•Dow, Lohnes and Albertson
- Associate, 1998-2000
•Alston & Bird
- Associate, 1992-1998

Honors and Awards

•Woman Leader in the Law, Legal Leaders, 2020

•Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers, 2017-2019

•Georgia Super Lawyers, 2014-2019

•Atlanta Women of Power and Influence, 2015-2016
•AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Civic and Charitable Activities

•America to Anywhere for Arthritis (A2A4A)
- Member/Marathon Runner Fundraising for Arthritis Foundation, 2007-present

Publications

Selected Publications

•Quoted, Trial to Start Monday in Georgia’s First-ever Public Records Case, The Atlantic-Journal Constitution, December 15, 2019
•Co-Author, “MLRC Model Brief on Newsgathering Claims,” Media Law Resource Center, November 2019

•Co-author, Second Circuit Addresses Requirements and Considerations for Sealing (and Unsealing) Allegedly Sensitive Documents Filed in Lawsuits, Duane Morris Alert, July 15, 2019

•Quoted, Were Roseanne Barr’s Free Speech Rights Violated When Disney Fired Her? Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 31, 2018

•Quoted, Top Reed Aide Pressured Officials to Delay Records Release, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 26, 2018

•Quoted, Journalists Subpoenaed to Testify in Murder Case, Daily Report, March 9, 2018

•Quoted, Teacher Files Lawsuit Against Parent Over Social Media Post, CBS46.com, January 10, 2018

•Co-Author, Palin's Suit Against The New York Times Dismissed by Federal Court Weighing in on Defamation and Political Editorials, Duane Morris Alert, September 6, 2017 and Media Law Resource Center, 2017 - The Court's emphasis on the need to set forth a plausible claim for relief makes particular sense in public figure defamation cases because it helps ensure that those exercising their First Amendment rights will not be unduly burdened with expensive and baseless litigation.

•Quoted, First Amendment Lawyers Say Conviction of Citizen Journalist Could Lead to More Media Arrests, Daily Report, December 6, 2017

•Co-author, Model Brief on Access to the Executive Branch, Media Law Resource Center 2017
•Co-author, Demystifying the Law on Opinion and Embracing Milkovich, Communications Lawyer, Winter 2016 - The Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Milkovich does not deserve the scarlet letter it has received from the libel defense bar.
•Co-author, Supreme Court of Georgia Clarifies Constitutional Protections for Commenting on Public Controversies, Duane Morris Alert, September 15, 2016 and Media Law Resource Center, 2016
•Co-Author, Strategies for Efficiently and Economically Winning a Media Case, ABA Media, Privacy, & Defamation Law Committee Newsletter, 2011
•Guest Columnist, Taxpayer Money Always Needs Public Scrutiny -- No Exceptions, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2011 - Editorial column regarding risks associated with a Georgia Senate Bill that would have trumped the right of citizens to learn about tax breaks or deals offered to recruit private companies to Georgia. The proposed law would have effectively permitted government officials to make secret deals and withhold details about how tax-payer money was being spent.
•Author, Plaintiff Failed to Show Fault, Media Law Resource Center, 2009
•Author, Georgia's Anti-SLAPP Statute Applied in Media Case: First Published Decision Applying Statute to Media Defendant, Media Law Resource Center, 2008
•Co-Author, Survey of Georgia Privacy Law, Media Law Resource Center, 2001 - Fifty-state survey of privacy law.
•Co-Author, Libel in Cyberspace: Liability and Jurisdictional Issues in this New Frontier, Albany Law Review, 1996 - Written at a time when the Internet was uncharted legal territory, Ms. Counts' law review article on jurisdictional issues in Internet libel cases is still frequently cited by law school professors and other law review articles.
•Co-Author, Handbook on Georgia Appellate Procedure, 1996
•Co-Author, Litigating Product Liability Case Under the Banks 'Risk/Utility' Test: Predicting the Line Between Summary Judgment and Triable Claims and Outlying Trial Strategies for a Risky but Utilitarian World, 5th Annual Product Liability Seminar, 1996

Speaking Engagements

Selected Speaking Engagements

•Frequent contributor to Court TV
•Speaker, Hot Issues in Access and Newsgathering, Annual ABA Annual Conferences, 2019 - Austin, TX, 2018 - Miami, FL,2017 - New Orleans, LA, 2016 - Naples, FL
•Speaker, Billable Bites, Emory/Dury Consulting, March 12, 2019

•Speaker, “Current Events and Libel 101,” University of Georgia Terry College of Business, Atlanta, Georgia, December 6, 2017

•Speaker, Media Literacy 101, Atlanta Press Club, Atlanta Georgia, May 22, 2017
•Speaker, The Media Speaks, Adult Learning Program, May 17, 2017
•Moderator, If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Don't Say Anything: Analyzing Unpublishing Demands, Nondisparagement Clauses, and Whistleblower Retaliation and their Impact on the Fourth Estate, University of Kansas Media and the Law Seminar, Kansas City, Missouri, May 5, 2017
•Panelist, Georgia Reflections on Ferguson, Access, Fairness, Public Trust and Confidence Committee, December 15, 2016
•Co-presenter, MLRC Conference, Virginia, September 2016
•Panelist, Anti-SLAPP Statute, Georgia First Amendment Foundation Breakfast, January 28, 2016
•Speaker, Rights, Roles and Responsibilities of Press and Media, Government, Politics and Media Institute of Holy Innocents' Episcopal School, 2014
•Speaker, The Basics of Georgia's Open Records Law: What You Need to Know About Public Records and Open Meetings, 2012
•Speaker, Legal Issues Arising from the Use of Social Media, Digital News: Bluejeans Workshop, University Georgia Grady College of Journalism, 2011 - Speaker/panelist at the University of Georgia's annual Digital News Workshop at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication on legal and ethical issues journalists face today, the increased significance of social media in news reporting and the risks of relying on internet information resources.
•Panelist, Open Records Requests, Atlanta Press Club, 2011 - Discussion sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club with Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens regarding how open record requests were used to uncover a cheating scandal in the Atlanta public school system and how the revised open records bill will affect the future of investigative reporting.
•Speaker, Libel & Privacy 101 for Authors, BookLogix Seminar, 2011 - Presentation to authors explaining how libel and privacy claims could be brought against them for using real-life individuals in both fiction and non-fiction, and how they can minimize their risk of being sued.
•Speaker, Alternative Fee Billing for Media Cases, ABA Forum on Communications Law, January 29, 2010 - Panel of in-house and outside counsel discussed their experiences and success stories with alternative fee billing.
•Speaker, Deposition 101 in Libel and Privacy Cases, Media Law Resource Center National Seminar, 2008
•Speaker, Ways to Improve Relationships Between the Bar, Media and Judiciary, Libel Defense Resource Center Breakfast, 2000
•Speaker, Curbing Discovery Abuses: Answering Discovery Requests, Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 1996
•Speaker, Motions for Summary Judgment and Other Pre-Trial Motions, Civil Litigation for Younger Lawyers Seminar, 1995