Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer

Rebecca Hughes Parker is an attorney in Dentons’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice in New York.

1. How did you get interested in journalism and media law?

I cannot remember a time when I was not interested in journalism and politics. In middle school, I asked for subscriptions to the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and our local Long Island Newsday so I could read each morning. My mother obliged on the condition that I babysat my five younger siblings and, later, that I help drive them.

I started writing for my high school newspaper and ultimately became editor-in-chief, spending countless hours assigning and editing stories and laying out the paper on early desktop-publishing software. In college, the newspaper was my first stop as well, and I became the managing editor of the weekly publication, where feature-length reporting let us dig into campus issues.  I loved reporting. I still remember the cafeteria worker strikes, a contentious Senate race, university email crash, and a 24-inch snowfall that did not cancel classes. I remember a spirited op-ed defending figure skating as a real sport. During summers, I interned at ABC News. After college, I spent time in local broadcast news, and then in law school I worked on Dan Abrams’ legal show at MSNBC. Those experiences showed me different scales of operations and different ways to tell stories.

As for the law, my late father has always been my inspiration.  He was a standout student and hockey player from Canada. A first-generation college graduate, he loved practicing law, especially tax law, if you can believe it, but he was intellectually curious about everything, and clients sought him out for a wide variety of advice. We debated all sorts of legal concepts and current events for as long as I can remember.

2. What was it like coming into law after journalism, and then returning as outside counsel after time in-house?

Moving from journalism to litigation felt natural because the core skills overlap. Building a coherent narrative for a brief or a trial echoes the work of constructing a long-form article or an investigative segment. You gather facts and then present what matters in the clearest sequence you can. The discipline of editing—cutting what does not serve the theme—translates directly to legal writing. I recall relying on the interview skills I honed in journalism for the first major deposition I took.

My time outside of a firm also has shaped my perspective.  After my first stint at Dentons in litigation, I managed lawyer–journalist teams in a premium legal subscription business, and wrote and edited a lot myself. That experience taught me the operational and editorial pressures that media and data-driven companies face.  Later, as in-house counsel following an acquisition, I advised reporters, editors, and analysts under real deadlines and real budgets.  I learned to calibrate risk to the company’s mission, not to an abstract ideal.

Rejoining outside counsel practice at Dentons in 2023, I brought that operational wisdom and empathy with me.

3. Best advice you have ever received?

A legal career is long—often 40 years—and it does not have to be linear or conform to a single, well-trodden path.

My two years in local news gave me valuable real-world experience before law school. Then, just three months after I started in litigation at Dentons the first time, I gave birth to premature twins. I was a brand new lawyer and brand new mother of two all at once. My husband was a fantastic primary caregiver, but motherhood did complicate things, to put it mildly. I had a third kid six years later while still at Dentons.

My path was not traditional, and that made me nervous at times, but a long career affords room for detours. I learned that breadth has been a strength, not a liability.

4. Coming from a family of Olympians (and as a trained athlete yourself), what life lessons did you learn from sports?

Studies consistently show that a large share of senior women leaders were competitive athletes, which does not surprise me.  Sports are empowering, especially for women working in male-dominated environments. At U.S. law firms, for example, women still make up under a quarter of equity partners despite comprising about half of associates.

I figure skated growing up, competing individually and on a synchro team. I played a variety of other sports at different times, like lacrosse and track and tennis. I taught skating in college, as well as aerobics and strength classes. Athletics taught me the value of hard work, of teamwork, and of practical problem-solving combined with the importance of resilience. A connective tissue disorder has led to many injuries. I had to learn to get up, adjust my plan, and keep going.

Further, athletics teaches you how to perform under pressure. My sisters – Sarah who competed and won gold in figure skating at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and Emily who competed in the 2006 Torino Olympics – had to stand alone on the ice before millions of spectators and a panel of judges. They had to trust their training and judgment. From a young age, we all learned that innate trust.

5. What are the media law and First Amendment issues that keep you up at night?

There are many, unfortunately. The through line is the chilling of speech. Overt threats by public officials to punish disfavored coverage are obvious red flags, and we are hearing those frequently. “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations,” George Orwell said, and it seems many just want the latter.

The constant rhetorical attacks on the press can be corrosive in subtler ways, conditioning audiences to distrust journalism and pressuring newsrooms to pull punches.  

Speech is being chilled in educational settings as well.  Book removals and restrictions on curriculum send a message to teachers and librarians that it is safer to avoid contested topics, even when those materials are pedagogically sound.  I have been so lucky to work with many talented lawyers on these issues. Notably, I had the opportunity to learn from Michael Bamberger, a lion of the First Amendment bar, who has done so much to protect free expression in his over six decades practicing law (talk about a long career). I could not imagine a better mentor.

The hardest part is that the damage can outlast any single administration.  Once policies, enforcement priorities, or even informal norms reset around hostility to speech, institutions internalize the risk.  

6. Favorite law-themed book, movie, or show?

“My Cousin Vinny” is a classic. It obviously takes many liberties, but somehow it captures real courtroom dynamics. I love that there are really no bad guys – just the legal system and Vinny figuring it out.

7. Favorite sports-themed book, movie, or show?

 “Miracle” is still my go-to sports movie for how it captured that magical 1980 win. I also have to mention “The Mighty Ducks” for putting a determined female goalie in front of a generation of viewers. Representation matters, and girls notice. I am biased, of course, as my youngest daughter is a goalie, another position in sports that requires a calm mindset  in high-pressure situations.

As for books, “The Game” by the late Ken Dryden, a good friend of the family, is as much about leadership, culture, and the psychology of performance as it is about hockey.

8. Any unusual hobbies?

I love mysteries. I like to wind down at night with British “cozy” mystery shows—the kind that make you wonder how many people can possibly be murdered in small villages in the English countryside or on the English coast.

9. Where do you get your news?

I try to vary my sources deliberately so I do not get trapped in an echo chamber.  At home, we watch cable news—both my husband and I have worked in that world and understand the rhythms. I follow reporters and legal analysts on social platforms to see emerging stories before they harden into conventional wisdom. I read a handful of major newspapers daily and a rotating suite of newsletters that cover media law, privacy, technology, and politics, including MLRC’s MediaLawDaily, of course.

I also read about women’s health because unfortunately, getting good care takes a lot of knowledge and empowered questions to doctors.

10. Travel bucket list?

In addition to spinal surgery, in 2025, I underwent treatment for breast cancer and I promised myself that once I healed, I would make time for more travel. I have never been to Ireland or France, so those are certainly places I would like to see. I spent one day in the countryside in the Cotswolds in England a few years ago, and would like to go back. Hopefully, no murders while I am there.