Cynthia L. Counts has more than 20 years of trial and appellate experience. Over the course of her career, she has established a practice focusing on media and First Amendment law. Ms. Counts defends individuals, newspapers, websites, television stations and small businesses in libel, copyright and trademark infringement claims, as well as breach of contract, invasion of privacy, fraud and promissory estoppel cases. She has represented well-established media companies, newspapers, broadcasters and publishing companies in prepublication review and emergency court hearings to contest motions for injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraints, to quash subpoenas on the basis of reporter’s privilege and to gain access to court proceedings or public documents. Ms. Counts has been at the forefront of the quest for a broad application of Georgia’s anti-SLAPP statute, enacted in 1996 to provide an early mechanism for the dismissal of harassing libel litigation.
Ms. Counts is a sought-after commentator and writer on libel, privacy, Internet, the First Amendment and open government law. In 2014, she became a member of the governing board of the American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law. Ms. Counts is an adjunct professor teaching media law at Emory University Law School. She has been selected as one of Georgia’s Super Lawyers and is AV® Preeminent Peer Review rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Ms. Counts is a 1992 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law and a cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
