Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer

Bruce S. Rosen is a partner at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C.

When did you know you wanted to be a lawyer?

Well, I was always and still am an arguer, and in high school in central New Jersey I was an anti-Vietnam War activist and editor of our own underground newspaper called “Conscience.” In 1970-71 there was a TV show called “Storefront Lawyers,” that sort of inspired me further to law, but I didn’t really have the resources to go right after college but had had a paid internship with the Woodbridge (NJ) News Tribune while in college and also covered DC for them as a stringer while at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service – including covering Nixon’s resignation. I left school and went directly to work there. Law had to wait. Later, I was working for the Bergen Record covering government and politics and rock music on the side.

But I really got the bug to go to law school while covering the Abscam trials in Brooklyn in 1980-81, especially the trial of U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams, where I was second guessing the defense lawyers and thought, “well I could do that!” Around that time, The Record started a tuition reimbursement program that paid for most of my law school. I went to school at night and covered the courts during the day. I was married with two small kids (wasn’t easy for any of us).

How did you get interested in media law? What was your first job?

My first real law job was clerking for the late U.S. District Judge H. Lee Sarokin in Newark in 1985. I had profiled him as a stringer for the National Law Journal and he knew I was in my last year of night classes at Seton Hall Law School and asked me if I’d be interested in doing a temporary clerkship so I could help him write a major opinion. It turned out to be the habeas corpus decision that freed Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the middleweight boxer convicted twice for a triple murder, and later a film starring Denzel Washington.

I was always interested in media law. As a federal clerk, I finagled an interview with Floyd Abrams at Cahill Gordon, but he told me they hadn’t hired anyone from Seton Hall before, and I guess they already had a stable of ex-reporters. I briefly went back to The Record but soon left to take over editing the New Jersey Law Journal when Steve Brill bought it, and I because executive editor for all of the American Lawyer media legal papers.

After five years, Steve’s attention moved to Court TV and I left to join Lowenstein Sandler, where one of the lawyers was friends with the late Doug Jacobs who led litigation at CBS. Doug gave us the case of a New Jersey lawyer who sued over allegations he had hired a runner for his personal injury practice (and who candidly discussed fees without asking about the injury to a hatcam). The case settled for a half-apology. Doug also made sure that I started writing the N.J. chapter for the MLRC’s 50-State Survey.

What’s a high-profile or particularly interesting case you’ve worked on?

I’ve been very lucky and I’ve worked on numerous cases with big impact even through today. The first big case I had involved a homeless man who had been banned from the Morristown, NJ library because he smelled. That case generated a lot of news. I won at the district court, got him an award, but then lost the issue of who controls access to the library in the Third Circuit.

Among my media law cases with the biggest impact were U.S. v. Chang, in the District of New Jersey where the Third Circuit ruled that a 5k.1 motion letter by the Government must be released (the letter seemed to suggest the government believed then-Sen. Robert Torricelli was guilty of selling favors to a campaign contributor). Torricelli withdrew from his re-election a few days later.

A year later, representing the New York Times, I won release of the transcripts of the 9/11 emergency calls recorded by the Port Authority as the twin towers were under attack. The release, which was supported by most 9/11 families and did not identify the speakers, was huge news and led the news cycle worldwide.

Finally, in 2010 I helped clarify and strengthen New Jersey’s fair report privilege in a N.J. Supreme Court case called Salzano v. North Jersey Media Group. Thanks to North Jersey Media Group GC Jennifer Borg (and her dad, Malcolm, the CEO who essentially paid for most of my law school while I covered the courts), I had a string of important decisions that defined media law in New Jersey. I am trying to continue that through bringing numerous anti-SLAPP actions, most involving appellate argument.

You started out as a journalist, which is not uncommon among media lawyers, but did journalism also fuel an interest in criminal law?

Criminal law is so different than media law but it intersects with shield law cases I’ve done. When I was at Lowenstein Sandler, I took a state habeas in Northern Alabama that the feel of “My Cousin Vinny”. I always found criminal law much more difficult to retain but I have been doing Criminal Justice Act Panel work as long as I’ve been a lawyer. In 2016, I represented numerous media entities trying to get the names of the unindicted coconspirators in the Bridgegate case. We won in the District Court and lost in the Third Circuit despite a precedential case that seemed on point. The Court found a way around it. Tough loss but all the convictions were tossed by the Supreme Court.

State legislatures are notoriously opaque; how did you navigate local politics to help enact New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP law?

There was incredible and surprising bipartisan support for UPEPA after 15 or more years of various attempts to pass a version in New Jersey. I wrote about it and lobbied for it personally for years. In the end, I found the biggest opposition came from the bureaucrats in the court system- which gets to review the laws affecting the Courts – and who didn’t like fee-shifting or stays. But what the Legislature gave with one hand, they later took with another, undermining public notice requirements and taking away mandatory fee shifting in open public records cases. Perhaps our new governor can bring in more light.

Local journalism is under stress — is that more so in New Jersey?

We had so many family-owned papers here when I started, but I don’t think any exist anymore. USA Today Network and Advance Publications now have most major publications but all those laid off reporters have started small publications, many getting small grants and but require constant fundraising. It’s tough, but they are doing great journalism. My firm, Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, is definitely trying to help anywhere we can on several fronts. While the media law issues seemed covered but we have to strengthen the funding for all for these great small entities. And public television, don’t get me started, the state government should be kicking in to help – we have so little local coverage on New York or Philadelphia TV, but despite their good work they struggle for viewership.

Best piece of career advice you’ve gotten?

Didn’t really get advice per se but I watched by example. Work hard and play hard was my motto at my old firm. It’s the same at Pashman Stein. And always trying to emulate the good work done by my friends at the bigger firms.

Who makes the best slice in New Jersey?

Hard to say because there’s so much competition, but I have a particular fondness for Federici’s in Freehold (an old Springsteen hangout) and Star Tavern in Orange.

Bruce Springsteen: Overated, underated, just right?

OMG, just saw him play four songs the other night at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. It was magical. I interviewed him as a rock writer in 1978 and I’ve seen him probably 25-30 times since 1976 and waited over 30 years to see him in a small venue. I don’t remember such a joyous vibe at an intimate show (although I was happily singing just as off-key at the Sphere for Dead & Co.). Bruce lives a few miles away from my house, still waiting to bump into him. Hard to believe the guy is in his mid-70s. To me, just right.

Where’s Jimmy Hoffa buried?

Forgetaboutit! But there are more than a few landfills to chose from.