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Contact Us

Mailing Address:

We are available in our offices only by appointment.

Media Law Resource Center
266 West 37th Street – 20th Floor
New York, NY 10018

Phone: (212) 337-0200

Fax: (212) 337-9893

General Email

MLRC Staff

Name Position Phone
George Freeman Executive Director Extension 206
Dave Heller  Deputy Director Extension 205
Jeff Hermes Deputy Director Extension 214
Michael A. Norwick  Staff Attorney Extension 203
Jake Wunsch Production Manager Extension 202
Elizabeth (Liz) Zimmermann MLRC Administrator Extension 204
Jill Seiden Assistant Administrator Extension 210

Staff Contacts by Service

Accounts Payable/Receivable Liz Zimmermann
Annual Dinner Liz Zimmermann
Brief Bank Requests Michael Norwick
Committees George Freeman
Conferences – London Dave Heller
Conferences – MLRC Media Law Conference George Freeman
Conferences – MLRC/Southwestern Entertainment & Media Law George Freeman
Conferences – MLRC/Digital Media Conference Michael Norwick
DCS Annual Meeting & Lunch Liz Zimmermann
Employment Dave Heller
Expert Witness Inquiries Dave Heller
Legal Inquiries (Members Only) Dave Heller
Membership Liz Zimmermann
MLRC Institute George Freeman
Press Inquiries Dave Heller
Publications – Submissions
Jake Wunsch
Publications – Orders/Subscriptions Liz Zimmermann
Publications – Permissions (Reprint of MLRC Materials) Jake Wunsch
Website Jake Wunsch

Staff Bios

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.  He is editor of MLRC’s 50-State Surveys and several of MLRC’s triannual bulletins, which include periodic reports on MLRC’s multi-decade study of media trials and damages. He is also the organizer of MLRC’s annual Legal Frontiers in Digital Media conference. 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 earned his law degree from George Washington University in 1997, where he was a member of the George Washington Law Review.

Jake Wunsch is MLRC’s production manager. Before joining MLRC, he wrote and edited newspapers in upstate New York and Montana. At MLRC, he writes, edits and designs publications; maintains the website and social media accounts; and fields member questions. He graduated from NYU with a degree in philosophy.

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.

Name    Position    Phone    Email
Sandra Baron    Executive Director    (212) 337-0200 x. 206    sbaron at medialaw.org
David Heller    Staff Attorney    (212) 337-0200 x. 205    dheller at medialaw.org
Maherin Gangat    Staff Attorney    (212) 337-0200 x. 214    mgangat at medialaw.org
Robert Hawley    Staff Attorney    (212) 337-0200 x. 207    rhawley@medialaw.org
Michael Norwick    Staff Attorney    (212) 337-0200 x. 203    mnorwick at medialaw.org
Janine Tien    MLRC Fellow    (212) 337-0200 x. 218    jtien@medialaw.org
Peter Ostrovski    MLRC Institute Fellow    (212) 337-0200 x. 217    peter@medialaw.org
Debra Danis Seiden    MLRC Administrator    (212) 337-0200 x. 204    dseiden@medialaw.org
Jake Wunsch    Publications Assistant    (212) 337-0200 x. 202    jwunsch@medialaw.org