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SPOTLIGHT SESSION: LEE TIEN
Domestic Surveillance after Sept. 11: Accountability Imperiled

Concern for "homeland security" after Sept. 11 has been fertile ground for increased domestic surveillance. The Patriot Act was only the first step. The Transportation Security Administration is
gearing up for "CAPPS II" (Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System); the FBI issued new surveillance guidelines that announce its intention to create a massive database for tracking potential
terrorists; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a counter-terrorism "Total Information Awareness" system. These systems, and others we may not know about, pit claims of
"national security" against an open government's need for accountability. Has Congress done enough to hold the executive branch accountable? Does the law provide adequate accountability in court? How can we have open government as to "more surveillance" if we don't know what the government is doing?

Lee Tien is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in free speech law, including intersections with intellectual property law and privacy law. Before joining EFF, Lee was a sole practitioner specializing in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation. Mr. Tien has published articles on children's sexuality and information technology, anonymity, surveillance, and the First Amendment status of publishing computer software.

 

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Public Attorneys: Who's the Client and What Do You Tell Them?

City attorneys, county counsel and other lawyers advising government bodies and agencies are paid by the public but look to officials as their clients. When does this pose conflicts with public expectations? How much can and should these lawyers press for public access to meetings and records? A panel of experienced counsel provides insights.
 

SPOTLIGHT SESSION: TERRY FRANCKE
A First Amendment Primer

A crash course in what everyone should know about how courts decide issues of freedom of speech, press, petition, association and religion, identifying settled law and listing breaking issues to watch.

Terry Francke is CFAC's general counsel and is widely recognized as an expert on California open government law and First Amendment issues. Francke came to the Coalition in 1990 after serving as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association for ten years. He is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Prior to law school, his experience included radio news, public affairs positions in the Marine Corps and for a school district, and three years as editor of a weekly newspaper. Francke drafted the 1994 revisions to the Brown Act and is also the author of a model local government sunshine law that provides more government transparency than state law's minimum requirements. This model has been adopted in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Contra Costa County.

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Asserting Your CPRA Rights to Government Records

Learn the ins and outs of access to public records under the California Public Records Act from media attorneys, journalists and citizen activists pushing the envelope on access. Also learn about this year's access battles from the warriors and their attorneys. Duffy Carolan, Tim Crews, Richard McKee, Alonzo Wickers IV and Bob Christie

Duffy Carolan, a CFAC board member and author, is a partner at the San Francisco office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Carolan lectures on media law at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and specializes in media law, regularly advising and successfully representing various media entities on access issues.

Tim Crews, a CFAC board member, is the owner, publisher and editor of The Sacramento Valley Mirror. Crews is a long-time proponent of access who often engages his local government in access issues and has successfully pursued self-represented litigation.

Richard McKee is the first citizen activist to be President of CFAC. McKee is a chemistry professor at Pasadena City College who has successfully sued a number of local government agencies to stop violations of open government law.

Bob Christie is the City Editor of The Bakersfield Californian, a mid-sized daily newspaper in the southern Central Valley. The Californian has been aggressively pursuing public records and court access issues for the past several years. Most recently, the paper sued Kern County and the city of Bakersfield under provisions of the California Public Records Act for refusing to provide exact salary and overtime figures for firefighters and law enforcement officers by name.

Alonzo Wickers IV is a partner at the Los Angeles office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP who specializes in media law and regularly advises media clients on access issues. Wickers successfully represented the press in obtaining access to the state's controversial long-term electricity contracts, and he has won many other access battles in and out of court. He also teaches at USC's Annenberg School of Communication.

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The Right of Access to Criminal Trials With High Profile Defendants

A panel discussion of rights of access to criminal trials in cases with high profile defendants. Attorneys involved in the People v Westerfield trial will discuss secret court hearings, sealed pre-trial motions, search warrant records and speculative concerns about pre-trial publicity prejudice.

Guylyn Cummins is a partner of Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, where she chairs the firm's First Amendment and Media Law Practice Group. She is an adjunct professor of media law at California Western School of Law and has written many articles on First Amendment issues. She regularly represents pro bono clients on various constitutional issues.

Guylyn Cummins is a partner of Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, where she chairs the firm's First Amendment and Media Law Practice Group. She is an adjunct professor of media law at California Western School of Law and has written many articles on First Amendment issues. She regularly represents pro bono clients on various constitutional issues.

Katherine Flaherty is an attorney with the San Diego District Attorney's office.

Paul Krueger is Senior Producer for KNSD/NBC Channels 7/39 and a board member of The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego.

Mike Stutz is news director of KGTV/ABC in San Diego.

Laurie Hearn is the Metro Editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

 

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Taming the WWW: A Provocative Discussion on Internet Filtering

Even before passage of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in 2000, some schools and libraries began installing Internet filtering/blocking software in an attempt to protect children from illegal, obscene, child pornographic, and harmful to minors materials. Does Internet blocking work? Or are alternative means such as Internet use policies and training, media literacy education, and supervision by parents, teachers, or librarians more effective at preventing inappropriate exposures while preserving the amazing educational opportunities offered by the Internet?

Will Doherty is the Executive Director of the Online Policy Group, an organization devoted to "one Internet with equal access for all," and Media Relations Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In both capacities, he conducts original research on Internet blocking software.

Susan Hildreth is the City Librarian of San Francisco, overseeing the main library, twenty-six branch libraries, and two bookmobiles. She is very active in the American Library Association, where she serves on the elected governing body, the ALA Council; in the California Library Association, where she served as Treasurer for five years; and the Public Library Association.

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Accessing State and Federal Court Records

Everything you ever wondered or wanted to know about access rights to court records at all levels of the judicial system. An interactive, how-to session with tips and cautions for those seeking judicial records. How to prevent records from being sealed and how to access a record that has already been sealed.

Duffy Carolan, a CFAC board member and author, is a partner at the San Francisco office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Carolan lectures on media law at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and specializes in media law, regularly advising and successfully representing various media entities on access issues. She has successfully litigated access issues for McClatchy Newspapers and the Oakland Tribune.

Rochelle Wilcox is an associate at the Los Angeles office of Davis Wright Tremaine who lives and works in Sacramento. Her focus on media law includes access to government records and proceedings as well as shield law cases. She successfully represented the Los Angeles Times in obtaining access to records relating to alleged sexual harassment at the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, and she has helped The Press Enterprise of Riverside in obtaining access to numerous sealed plea agreements.

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Whose Confidentiality is Being Protected When Kids in the System Die?

The Lance Helm Sunshine Act was adopted three years ago following the mysterious deaths of a number of dependent children whose care was being supervised by the child welfare system. Although the original intent of the Helms Act was to lift confidentiality provisions in child death cases, the opposite has occurred. An in-depth look at access to records and hearings in juvenile dependency court.

Cheryl Romo is a Los Angeles Daily Journal staff writer who specializes in the coverage of children whose lives are intertwined with government systems.

Mareva Brown is a journalist who has covered the foster care and juvenile dependency system extensively as a senior writer for The Sacramento Bee. She is the recipient of the 2001 Bill Farr Award given to an individual who furthers the open government cause through their actions. Brown went to court herself and convinced Sacramento's presiding dependency court judge to allow her access to records and hearings so she could report on the system and its flaws.

Charity Kenyan is a partner in Riegels Campos & Kenyon LLP. Included in Best Lawyers in America in the category First Amendment Law and recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sacramento Chapter, Freedom of Information Award in 1995, Charity has more than 20 years of experience representing local and regional newspapers and television stations, national broadcasters, publishers and news magazines in state and federal courts.

Marjie Lundstrom is a senior editor and columnist at The Sacramento Bee. In 1991, as a correspondent for Gannet News service, she won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for articles revealing how child-abuse deaths went undetected due to mistakes by medical examiners and coroners. She is a visiting faculty member in journalism ethics, writing and coaching at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in Florida, and has been a guest lecturer at The National Writers Workshop, the American Press Institute, the National Journalism and Women Symposium, the Society for Professional Journalists, the University of California, Berkeley, and numerous other college campuses nationwide.

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Asking for Government Records and CPRA Compliance Audits

A primer for anyone interested in making requests for information from state and local governments using the California Public Records Act. In this practical how-to session, panelists will discuss the basics of acquiring records as well as the obstacles encountered by those seeking public documents. The session will include how to plan and conduct a CPRA audit in your community.

Diane Barney is managing editor of The Reporter in Vacaville. She has
previously served as a board member for the California First Amendment
Coalition and the California Society of Newspaper Editors. The Reporter is
currently working on its 25th survey of public pay, which features salaries
and benefits for top-level managers throughout Solano County and recently
completed its first-ever public information audit.
Ray Herndon is a CFAC board member and computer projects editor for the Los Angeles Times

Robin Miller is city editor of The Reporter in Vacaville. She played a lead
role in coordinating the newspaper's first-ever public information audit
this year, which involved sending a team of reporters and citizen volunteers
out to make 50 requests. Miller directed the reporting, editing and
packaging of the survey, which found a 41.3 percent rate of compliance.

Dan Weikel, a CFAC board member and transportation writer for the Los Angeles Times.

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Free Speech and Youth

Young people face special challenges to their freedom of expression. Not only are youth often denied access to expression because of a fear that they might be harmed by it, but they find outlets for expressing their own views to be very limited. A panel of youth speakers will discuss how they fight censorship and give voice to their views.
(youth panelists to be named)

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The Fundamentals of Libel, Privacy and the Shield Law

A nuts-and-bolts session on the risks inherent in disseminating the information you obtain through aggressive newsgathering activities, including a look at trends and issues of libel, privacy and shield law protections.

Linda Berger, formerly a practicing lawyer and journalist, is an associate professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. While in practice, much of her work focused on First Amendment issues
and media defense. She recently finished writing an article evaluating federal and state shield laws and recommending ways to preserve shield law protection despite technological, cultural, and economic changes that make it possible for almost anyone to be a 'journalist.'
 
Neil Shapiro, a partner in the San Francisco firm of Bingham McCutchen LLP, has more than thirty years of experience defending newspaper publishers and television broadcasters against claims of libel and invasion of privacy, in representing them in government and court access matters, and in counseling them on the content of their daily news reports. He has argued numerous press cases in the appellate courts, and for the last decade and a half has been recognized for his work by inclusion in Best Lawyers in America as a First Amendment specialist.
Steve Burns is Assistant General Counsel for McClatchy Newspapers and is responsible for First Amendment/newsroom and litigation matters for the company. Prior to coming to McClatchy, Burns represented a wide variety media organizations in libel and private litigation for almost twenty years. Burns has also taught First Amendment law and other subjects at McGeorge School of Law.
 
Ed Davis, a partner with Gray Cary Ware & Friedenrich in Palo Alto, has represented media entitles and journalists for more than twenty years. He has taught courses in media law, and has lectured extensively on First Amendment topics both in the United States and abroad. In 1991, Davis received the Laren Miller Legal Services Award for his pro bono work on First Amendment matters.

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SPOTLIGHT SESSION: TERRY FRANCKE
Open Government: It's the Law!

A complete course on the Ralph M. Brown Act and how it is supposed to work for attorneys, journalists, civic activists and government officials. *Approved for 2.5 hours of MCLE credits for attorneys.

Terry Francke is CFAC's general counsel and is widely recognized as an expert on California open government law and First Amendment issues. Francke came to the Coalition in 1990 after serving as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association for ten years. He is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Prior to law school, his experience included radio news, public affairs positions in the Marine Corps and for a school district, and three years as editor of a weekly newspaper. Francke drafted the 1994 revisions to the Brown Act and is also the author of a model local government sunshine law that provides more government transparency than state law's minimum requirements. This model has been adopted in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Contra Costa County.

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SYMPOSIUM: TERRY FRANCKE
The CPRA: The law, court decisions and practical application

A complete course on the California Public Records Act and how it is supposed to work for attorneys, journalists, civic activists and government officials. *Approved for 2.5 hours of MCLE credits for attorneys.

Terry Francke is CFAC's general counsel and is widely recognized as an expert on California open government law and First Amendment issues. Francke came to the Coalition in 1990 after serving as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association for ten years. He is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Prior to law school, his experience included radio news, public affairs positions in the Marine Corps and for a school district, and three years as editor of a weekly newspaper. Francke drafted the 1994 revisions to the Brown Act and is also the author of a model local government sunshine law that provides more government transparency than state law's minimum requirements. This model has been adopted in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Contra Costa County.

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What Every Journalist Should Know About Covering the Courts

This presentation combines a PowerPoint lecture with interactive discussion spurred by hypotheticals to give journalists a practical overview of what they should know when covering the judicial system, with particular emphasis on the conflict between the First and Sixth Amendments and on new and emerging areas of law. Photography and California Rule of Court 980; California Supreme Court, NBC Subsidiary (KNBC-TV), Inc. v. Superior Court (1999) 20 Cal. 4th 1178 holding constitutional right of access to civil proceedings; new California Rule of Court 243.1 and 243.2 and a bevy of local rules that make it more difficult to file civil records under seal.

Stephen D. Kaus is a partner at Cooper, White & Cooper LLP with extensive litigation experience, having tried about 50 matters to verdict. He has 18 years of experience representing journalists in defamation, privacy and access issues. He is a former deputy public defender and an occasional author for legal publications.

Merrit M. Jones is an associate at Cooper, White & Cooper LLP specializing in First Amendment and media law. Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for Gannet Newspapers in Michigan and Southern California.

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SLAPP Suit Basics: Protecting the Right of Public Participation

California's anti-SLAPP law continues to be a important tool for activists, journalists and all those
seeking to participate and report on matters of public interest. This panel will examine the basic operation of the anti-SLAPP law, discuss developments in the law over the past two years, and review some current issues.

(Panel being formed)

Steve Greene is an attorney and the executive director of the First Amendment Project in Oakland.

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Grand Juries as Open Government Watchdogs

A panel of experts explores the possibilities and pitfalls of grand juries as open government watchdogs. The president of the California Grand Jury Association proposes that a great way to improve government transparency is to strengthen and support the grand jury and publicize its findings. Another activist proposes a statewide grand jury system to investigate state agency tomfoolery. And Judge Quentin Kopp, who oversees grand jury investigations, shares his wisdom and insights into a grand jury's ability to help keep government meetings and records open to the public.

William Collier is the attorney who wrote the statewide grand jury initiative in conjunction with the Northern California Coalition for Limited Government (NCCLG). Collier is an environmental attorney and a consultant to business. He is a member of the Oaks Project, a group that sponsored Proposition 9 in 1998.

Ralph Morrell is president of the Northern California Coalition for Limited Government, a non-profit organization that proposes an initiative to amend the state constitution to create a state grand jury system to scrutinize state government.

The Honorable Quentin Kopp is a former state senator who is currently a San Mateo County Superior Court judge who has overseen county grand jury efforts in the past. Judge Kopp has been a friend of the open government movement throughout his career.

Jack Zepp is a retired attorney and president of the California Grand Jurors Association (CGJA), a non-profit organization of grand jury members from throughout the state. He served for 18 months on the Marin County Grand Jury in 1998-99 and is a "core issues" trainer for the CGJA, which, each year trains hundreds of new grand jurors about their responsibilities, powers and duties and how to effectively oversee local governments.

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Electronic Access to Court Records and Privacy Concerns

A look at the current practices throughout the state of electronic access to court records and concerns that have been raised regarding the privacy of individuals named in records held by the court.

Linda Ackerman is staff counsel for PrivacyActivism. Her main areas of expertise are privacy issues created by the extensive use of databases.

James Chadwick is an attorney with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich in Palo Alto who specializes in media access law. A longtime advocate for open government, Chadwick is a member of the CFAC board of directors and a co-author of SCA 7, the constitutional sunshine amendment that would give all Californians a fundamental constitutional right of access to government meetings and records.

Bill Chamberlin has been the Joseph L. Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communications at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida since 1987. He now serves as Director of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. He also is Founding Director of the College's Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and an affiliate professor of the University of Florida College of Law.

Griff Palmer is database editor for the San Jose Mercury-News. He coordinates acquisition of public records in electronic form for reporting purposes.

Deborah Pierce is founder and Executive Director of PrivacyActivism.org, a non-profit organization that focuses on consumer education, advocacy, and analysis of privacy issues.

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SPOTLIGHT SESSION: BILL CHAMBERLIN
State Access Laws across the Nation

A leading policy analyst from Florida leads a discussion of state access laws across the nation, including the unveiling of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. The project will allow users of the www.citizenaccess.com website to compare readable summaries of state access statutes, cases and constitutional provisions. Those summaries are being rated by a panel of nationally recognized experts on open meetings and open records laws. Presentation will discuss comparisons of state constitutions and computer access laws, as well as other topics of current concern, including legislation aimed at curbing terrorism.
 
Bill Chamberlin has been the Joseph L. Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communications at the College of Journalism and Communications of the University of Florida since 1987. He now serves as Director of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project. He also is Founding Director of the College's Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and an affiliate professor of the University of Florida College of Law.

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