Staff & Contact Information

George Freeman is Executive Director of the Media Law Resource Center. He was most recently Of Counsel to the law firm of Jenner & Block. He is a former Assistant General Counsel of the New York Times Company, where he was at the forefront of numerous high-profile cases for the company and its affiliated businesses. George is a well-known speaker on media and First Amendment issues. He is the William J. Brennan Visiting Professor at the Columbia Journalism School and also teaches at New York University and CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism. He has led or participated in many media groups and is the founder and Co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Communications Law annual conference. He is a graduate of Amherst and the Harvard Law School.

Dave Heller is the Deputy Director of the Media Law Resource Center. Much of his work focuses on MLRC's international programs and initiatives. He has been involved with the programming and planning of the MLRC London Conference since its inception and this year worked on MLRC's first conference on Legal Issues Concerning Hispanic and Latin American Media. He has written comments on UK and European media law reform issues, including the new UK Defamation Bill. He is a member of MLRC's International Media Lawyers Project (IMLP) which has worked to expand MLRC's membership to lawyers in developing countries. He is also the editor of MLRC‟s monthly MediaLawLetter, and a regular contributor to MLRC's other publications, including an annual survey of developments in media libel and privacy law.

Jeff Hermes currently serves as one of two Deputy Directors of the Media Law Resource Center, where he focuses on digital media law issues. Jeff previously served as the Director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, where he led multiple initiatives to provide free legal resources in response to the needs of independent journalists and online media ventures. Prior to joining the Berkman Center, Jeff assisted a wide array of clients in First Amendment, media, intellectual property and Internet law issues as a partner in the litigation practice of Brown Rudnick LLP and later as counsel to Hermes, Netburn, O'Connor & Spearing, P.C. in Boston. Jeff has represented an international media network and its subsidiaries, major metropolitan newspapers, broadcasters on television and radio, Internet-based publishers and social media networks. He has frequently been interviewed by national and international press outlets, written for numerous publications, spoken at a wide array of events, and been invited to international forums to discuss digital media law issues. Jeff received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University.

Michael A. Norwick joined MLRC as a Staff Attorney in 2011. His principal focus is monitoring and analyzing the law impacting digital media and publishing, focusing on First Amendment issues, defamation, privacy and intellectual property. He is also responsible for coordinating the annual Legal Frontiers in Digital Media conference in Silicon Valley every May. In addition, Michael monitors trials involving the media, and prepares MLRC's biennial Report on Trials & Damages. He also writes and edits for several of MLRC's other publications. Prior to joining MLRC, Michael was a litigator for over ten years at the New Jersey law firm, Lowenstein Sandler, where he represented clients in a variety of commercial disputes, and specialized in the litigation of intellectual property, media, and defamation defense matters. Michael has also served as Staff Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. Michael earned his law degree from George Washington University in 1997, where he was a member of the George Washington Law Review. Prior to joining Lowenstein Sandler in 1998, he served as a law clerk to New Jersey Superior Court Judge, Leonard S. Sachar, in Union County.

Jake Wunsch edits and designs MLRC's publications and mailings; maintains the website and social media accounts; and fields member questions. He graduated from NYU and worked on newspapers and trade publications in New York and Montana before joining MLRC in 2010.

Elizabeth (Liz) Zimmermann holds a Magna Cum Laude undergraduate degree in Economics, Psychology, and Communications from Hunter College, CUNY. She has worked in a variety of industries: Business/Accounting Consultant at After Hours Flowers; Business Manager at TheatreworksUSA; Business Administration/Accounting Manager at Cooley Monato Studios; Co-owner/CFO at Giving Tree Woodworking; Business Manager at Anything You See. She held a variety of positions at Ziff Communications including Business Manager, Account Executive, Systems Support Manager and Advertising Rates Manager. She began her position as MLRC Business & Administrative Manager in January 2018.

Jill Seiden joined MLRC in 2018 as assistant administrator. She fields membership questions, deals with annual membership renewals, manages CLE for the Latin America and Virginia conferences, and serves as the point of contact for preparers of MLRC's 50-State Surveys. Previously, she worked with a website consulting firm where she tailored Content Management Systems for the specific needs of non-profit organizations. Jill holds an undergraduate degree in English from SUNY New Paltz.