Board of Directors

Rachel Ehrenfeld is the Director of the American Center for Democracy. She is a noted terror finance and economic warfare scholar and an advocate of free speech rights. Dr. Ehrenfeld’s initiative to fight “libel tourism” came after she was sued for libel in the United Kingdom by Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz for documenting in her book, Funding Evil, that he had financed al Qaeda through his bank and charitable organization. Her initiative resulted in anti libel tourism laws first in New York State (Libel Tourism Protection Act, also known as “Rachel’s Law”), in California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee and Utah, and the federal SPEECH Act, signed by President Obama in August 2010.

Kevin Goldberg is an attorney at Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth in Arlington, VA.  Mr. Goldberg’s expertise is in First Amendment, Freedom of Information Act, and intellectual property issues, particularly copyright and trademark matters encountered by content creators and users and represents several national trade associations involved in these issues and is a regular contributor on all of these issues to his firm’s CommLawBlog.   He received his law degree from George Washington University, with high honors and his B.A. from James Madison University, magna cum laude.  Kevin currently teaches Journalism Law as an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University.

Eric Goldman is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law.  Before he became a full-time academic in 2002, he practiced Internet law for 8 years in the Silicon Valley.  His research and teaching focuses on Internet, IP and marketing law topics, and he blogs on those topics at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog.

Mark Goldowitz is the Founder and President of the Board of Directors of the Public Participation Project. He defends SLAPP targets in California. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1972. After working for Greater Boston Legal Services and Bronx Legal Services, he returned to his native California, where he became the Executive Director of Contra Costa Legal Services Foundation. In 1991, he founded the California Anti-SLAPP Project, in response to SLAPPs against him and his clients by the owners of mobile home parks and their lawyers. Since that time, in addition to defending SLAPP targets in California, he has worked to pass and strengthen the California anti-SLAPP law and to enact federal anti-SLAPP legislation.

Josh King is Vice President of Business Development & General Counsel of Avvo, a company that helps consumers make better health and legal decisions by offering free Q&A forums, ratings and user reviews of doctors and lawyers. He is responsible for the company’s business development, finance, business operations and legal affairs. He is also a frequent writer and speaker on First Amendment, media and professional ethics issues.  Prior to joining Avvo in October 2007, Josh spent over a decade in the wireless industry, in a mix of legal and non-legal roles:  Vice President, Corporate Development at AT&T Wireless, Director of Business Development for Clearwire, and General Counsel for Cellular One of San Francisco. Josh started his legal career doing civil litigation in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Avvo is part of the coalition to get federal anti-SLAPP legislation passed because Avvo believes that such legislation would benefit businesses and consumers.

Sean Parnell is the immediate past President of the Center for Competitive Politics. As president he conducted original research on contribution limits, taxpayer financed political campaigns, government regulation of talk radio, and other topics related to the First Amendment political rights of speech, assembly, and petition. He has appeared in major media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today, as well as political publications such as Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, Politico, and Roll Call. He has testified in front of or submitted testimony to several state legislatures considering campaign finance laws or other restrictions of First Amendment political rights.

Laura Lee Prather is a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP.  She focuses her practice on First Amendment privacy and intellectual property counseling and litigation arising out of both traditional and online media contexts.  She is also an advocate and lobbyist for open government and First Amendment concerns at the Texas Legislature.  She was the lead author and negotiator for the two most significant pieces of First Amendment legislation in recent history in Texas – the reporters’ privilege and the anti-SLAPP statute.  Ms. Prather formed and led the coalition for the anti-SLAPP bill, House Bill 2973, in the State of Texas this last session. This bill was passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate and was signed by the Governor of Texas on June 17, 2011, taking effect immediately.

Jeremy Rosen is the Vice President of the Board of Directors at the Public Participation Project.  Mr. Rosen is a partner at Horvitz & Levy, LLP and has been lead appellate counsel in dozens of appeals in a wide variety of areas (his name currently appears on more than 25 published opinions and many more unpublished opinions and he has presented more than 30 appellate oral arguments, including to the Ninth Circuit, California Supreme Court, and five of the six appellate districts in the California Court of Appeal). Mr. Rosen has developed an expertise in the First Amendment, California’s anti-SLAPP statute, the law of defamation, and the application of the litigation privilege. He has won three cases involving the California anti-SLAPP law before the California Supreme Court, and has handled many other anti-SLAPP appeals in the intermediate appellate courts.  Mr. Rosen has been invited to speak on these and other topics at numerous conferences.

Matt Zimmerman is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, focusing on civil liberties, free speech, and privacy law. He is particularly interested in how anonymity, free expression, and online activism are affected by Internet intermediaries. His practice further includes ongoing work in intellectual property law as well as government transparency issues. Prior to joining EFF, Matt was a Privacy Fellow at the public interest law firm The First Amendment Project, where he specialized in privacy and open government issues.  EFF is a strong and long-time supporter of anti-SLAPP legislation.