Cablefax Honors Communications Partners as 2018 Top Lawyers
Cable business publication Cablefax magazine has named Washington, D.C. partners Matthew Brill and Matthew Murchison to its 2018 Top Lawyers list. According to Cablefax, the annual report honors “legal titans of cable, broadband, broadcast TV, wireless and Internet” who “help the media and communications industry navigate a shifting landscape, setting the course amid regulatory upheaval and a transforming media sector.”
Brill, who serves as Global Chair of Latham & Watkins’ Communications Law Practice, advises service providers, investors, lenders, and other clients on traditional telecommunications and media issues, as well as emerging technologies issues. Brill has been particularly involved in issues surrounding net neutrality, and noted to Cablefax that in addition to the central questions that raised on appeal of the FCC’s order, preemption questions related to the regulation of broadband will come to the fore, especially with numerous states now considering legislation and some already having issued executive orders addressing net neutrality. Brill also “spent 2017 challenging a provision of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act as violating the First Amendment,” noted Cablefax. The publication added that he “expects 2018 to bring appellate decisions that will resolve the issues, which would be welcome news to pay TV operators getting hit with TCPA lawsuits.”
Murchison, who is also deeply involved in the net neutrality debate and identifies preemption as a topic that ‘often looms in the background of communications law’, advises clients on a range of regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters in the communications sector. Among his achievements, Cablefax reported that Murchison “helped litigate a case last year where a court struck down Nashville’s ‘one touch make ready’ ordinance on preemption grounds.” The publication added that he is a “well-rounded attorney” who “has provided pro bono representation on matters involving religious freedom and international humanitarian financing and serves with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.”