Nathan’s litigation practice covers a variety of issues for media clients, and has included  successfully defending ESPN in defamation suits brought by major sports personalities, representing producers and broadcasters of reality television programs such as Dog the Bounty Hunter and Wife Swap in the defense of right of publicity lawsuits, defending numerous journalists resisting subpoenas for confidential sources, obtaining access to information for news organizations in high-profile criminal matters such as the trial of “Scooter” Libby and the special prosecutor’s investigation of former President Clinton, and successfully defending ABC News in several novel lawsuits testing the limits of the fair use doctrine in copyright law.

Chambers USA has reported that Nathan has been praised for having “one of the most impressive legal minds I’ve ever encountered,” and that he is “the ideal guy to go to with a complicated question that looks impossible to answer.” Indeed, Best Lawyers reports that “Nathan marries an encyclopedic knowledge of the law with a practical, client-friendly approach to each matter.”  Nathan currently serves as the President of the Defense Counsel Section of the Media Law Resource Center, the largest national organization of media defense counsel.

Prior to joining LSKS, Nathan served as in-house litigation counsel at ABC, Inc., where he supervised the defense of ABC News in the landmark Food Lion v. ABC case and many other matters. He is resident in the firm’s Washington, DC office, and also regularly practices from the firm’s New York office.

Notable Representations

Knievel v. ESPN, 393 F.3d 1068 (9th Cir. 2005). Nathan successfully defended a defamation suit brought in Montana by daredevil Evel Knievel concerning material published on the website EXPN.com. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed in a decision that is often cited as a precedent permitting courts to consider multiple layers of website content on a motion to dismiss.

Hatfill v. Gonzales, 505 F. Supp. 2d 33 (D.D.C. 2007). Nathan succeeded in quashing subpoenas that a plaintiff in a federal Privacy Act case issued to The New York Times, Associated Press and The Baltimore Sun demanding the disclosure of journalists’ confidential sources. The decision set an important precedent discouraging the use of subpoenas issued under Rule 30(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as a device for seeking disclosure of confidential sources.

State v. WBAL-TV, 975 A.2d 909 (Md. App. 2009). Nathan obtained access to a videotaped confession introduced in a high-profile murder trial for a Baltimore TV station. The case was the first to interpret recently adopted Maryland rules governing access to court records.

Follner v. Chapman (Cal. Sup. Ct. San Mateo Co., 2007). Nathan successfully brought an anti-SLAPP motion on behalf of A&E Television Network and Hybrid Films dismissing right of publicity claims asserted by the plaintiff, who was depicted in an episode of the reality television program Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Wade Williams Distribution v. American Broadcasting Companies, 2005 WL 774275 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). Nathan won an important ruling for ABC News in a copyright infringement lawsuit challenging the boundaries of the fair use of film clips in commentary by television film critics.