Leita Walker > Ballard Spahr LLP > Minneapolis, United States > Lawyer Profile

Ballard Spahr LLP Offices

Ballard Spahr LLP
2000 IDS CENTER 80
SOUTH 8TH STREET
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402-2119
MINNESOTA
United States
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Leita Walker

Leita Walker photo
612.371.6222 walkerl@ballardspahr.com

Work Department

Litigation

Position

Partner

Career

Leita Walker is a litigator and trial lawyer in the firm’s Media and Entertainment Law Group. She has nearly 15 years of experience defending media organizations in libel litigation and helping them obtain access to governmental and judicial records.

Leita’s First Amendment practice includes defending libel, privacy, and right of publicity claims in trial and appellate courts across the country; prepublication vetting of both news and entertainment content; and advising clients on subpoenas and privilege issues, copyright law, and state and federal Freedom of Information Act laws.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Leita wrote for The Christian Science Monitor, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the Lawrence Journal-World.

Admissions: Iowa, Minnesota, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Iowa

Publications:

Author, “A Racial Reckoning, Reporter Arrests, and Court Access: The Inside Story of a Minneapolis Media Lawyer,” American Bar Association’s Communications Lawyer, Summer 2021

Co-author, “Chauvin Trial Shows Why Cameras Need to Be in Court,” Bloomberg Law, March 31, 2021

Memberships

Board member, American Bar Association Litigation Journal

Central Regional Division Co-Chair, American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law

Media Law Resource Center

Children’s Law Center of Minnesota

Volunteer Lawyers Network

Education

University of Kansas School of Law (J.D. 2006)
Editor-in-Chief, Kansas Law Review
Valedictorian
Order of the Coif

University of Kansas (B.S. 2002)
Editor-in-Chief, University Daily Kansan

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation

Ballard Spahr LLP is a First Amendment powerhouse that is frequently called upon to represent creative clients, as well as individuals and organizations from the publishing industry. The team has taken part in widely publicized disputes, such as the defense of those accused of defamation by former President Trump, or the settled appeal of the Heard v Depp case. In Washington DC, team head Charles Tobin has argued extensively for his media clients in libel and privacy lawsuits in state, federal, and appellate courts. Team founder David Bodney conducts his practice from Arizona, covering a range of issues with potentially constitutional ramifications. In New York, Thomas Sullivan assists those accused of disseminating defamatory information and pursues document access and freedom information claims. Based in Minnesota, Leita Walker is an expert First Amendment litigator who has been acting for Netflix to defend a defamation suit arising out of the documentary ‘Making a Murderer’.

 

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