Deanna Shullman to moderate false light panel at Reporter's Workshop.
Deanna Shullman will moderate the false panel at this year's Reporter's Workshop to be held in Tallahassee on September 22-23, 2008. The annual event attracts nominated reporter participants from around the state. False light invasion of privacy is a hot topic in Florida, as the state's highest court is currently considering whether to recognize the cause of action. Thomas & LoCicero represents several media organizations who filed a "friends of the court" brief in the case. This is the second time Ms. Shullman has lead the discussion in Tallahassee. For more information on the Reporter's Workshop, see the press release on the Florida Bar's website.

Thomas and LoCicero lawyers will be among the panelists at upcoming seminars on open-government issues.
The seminars will include discussion of recent changes to Florida's open-meetings and open-records laws and of major court decisions in those areas. The all-day seminars are set for September 24 in Sarasota, September 25 in Miami, October 7 in Ocala, and October 8 in Jacksonville.

Thomas & LoCicero attorneys Jim Lake and Rachel Fugate are scheduled to speak at the Ocala seminar. Deanna Shullman, also of Thomas & LoCicero, will be among the speakers in Miami.

Other presenters include Barbara Petersen, who is President of the Tallahassee-based First Amendment Foundation, and members of the Florida Commission on Ethics.

The seminars are organized by the First Amendment Foundation and the Florida's Office of Open Government. That Office was created by Governor Charlie Crist. Its primary function is to assure full and expeditious compliance with Florida's open government and public records laws and to provide open government resources and training to all executive branch agencies.

The First Amendment Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 for the purpose of ensuring that public commitment to progress in the area of open government does not become diluted during Florida's changing times. Its primary goal is to protect access to government meetings and records and to advance Florida's Sunshine Laws. Funding is based upon voluntary contributions and donations by news media, affiliated organizations, and concerned individuals.

More information is available from the First Amendment Foundation via the following link: http://www.floridafaf.org/events.htm.

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Four members of Thomas & LoCicero are among Florida’s “Legal Elite,” according to the 2008 listing in Florida Trend magazine.
Gregg Thomas and Jim McGuire were voted elite lawyers in the area of commercial litigation. Jim Lake and Carol LoCicero were honored in the area of intellectual property rights.

The "Legal Elite" are chosen in balloting open to all in-state members of The Florida Bar, the magazine's July issue reported. Lawyers were asked to name attorneys whom they hold in highest regard and have worked with or would recommend to others. After more than 18,051 votes were cast, the magazine named as elite practitioners fewer than two percent of Florida's approximately 61,500 active in-state lawyers.

This is Florida Trend's fifth year ranking Florida's top attorneys.

Gregg and Carol were also two of only four attorneys honored as "Florida Super Lawyers" in the area of First Amendment, Media, and Advertising Law. Super Lawyers magazine is published by Minneapolis-based Law & Politics.

Deanna K. Shullman named Vice-Chair of the Media & Communications Law Committee.
President-elect of the Florida Bar, John G. White, has appointed Deanna Shullman Vice-Chair of the Media & Communications Law Committee for the Florida Bar. Her term as Vice-Chair begins July 1, 2008 and runs through June 30, 2009. The Media & Communications Law Committee provides bar members a forum for discussing free speech and communications law issues. The Committee also provides valuable education to Florida Bar members, the media, and the public through seminars and conferences. The Committee also plans the annual Florida Bar Media Awards and updates the Reporter's Handbook, which is available on the Florida Bar's website (http://www.floridabar.org/). Deanna Shullman is not the first member of Thomas & LoCicero to serve as an officer of the Committee. Gregg Thomas and Carol LoCicero are both past chairs of the Media & Communications Law Committee, and Rachel Fugate's term as Chair of the Committee ends June 30, 2008.

The Florida Bar Media and Communications Law Committee, which is chaired by Rachel Fugate, presented its annual media law conference at Stetson University on April 4, 2008. The conference focused on hot topics in media law and included three Thomas & LoCicero lawyers as panelists. James J. McGuire discussed false light invasion of privacy, Carol Jean LoCicero moderated a panel on electronic access to court records, and James B. Lake discussed the Federal Freedom of Information Act and Florida Public Records Act.

For more information on the conference click here for an article based upon Jim Lake's presentation:  Ten Practical Tips for the Florida Public Records Act Requester.

Deanna K. Shullman has been named a member of Thomas & LoCicero PL, effective January 1, 2008.
"Deanna has been an excellent associate, and we are thrilled to welcome her as a member of Thomas & LoCicero," said Gregg Thomas, the firm's president. "Her knowledge and experience in the areas of litigation, media law, and intellectual property give us a strong presence in South Florida."

In more than six years as an attorney, Deanna has handled a variety of litigation matters, including trademark and copyright disputes, commercial litigation, the defense of class actions, and defamation and privacy claims. She also has sought access to judicial proceedings and government records and has testified as an expert witness on the subject of attorneys' fees in litigation.

Deanna is a member of The Florida Bar and is admitted to practice before all Florida federal courts and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Deanna is also a member of the American Bar Association's Forum on Communications Law, where she serves as a vice chair of the Training & Development Committee. She is also a member of the Florida Bar Media Law Committee and most recently served as Financial Chair of the Committee's 2007 Reporter's Workshop. She is the co-author of The Reporter's Privilege in Florida, which is part of a compendium published of the reporter's privilege laws of all 50 states published by The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press. Deanna has authored numerous articles for media law publications. She also has been a guest lecturer at Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center and presents seminars throughout the southeast on First Amendment and media law issues.

Deanna received her bachelor's degree summa cum laude in television/radio in 1995 from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Prior to law school, Deanna was a television news producer for an ABC affiliate in Gainesville, Florida.

Deanna earned her law degree, with high honors, and an Intellectual Property Certificate from the University of Florida College of Law in 2001. She also earned her master's degree in mass communications from the University of Florida the same year. While in law school, Deanna was a member of the Journal of Law and Public Policy, where she served as Articles Executive and twice received the Archie James Rhoden Award for Text Editing Excellence for her work on the Journal. Additionally, Deanna earned book awards in Media Law and Civil Clinic. She also wrote The Domain Name Game: Applying Trademark Law to an Internet Tug of War, which was published in Southern Methodist University's Computer Law Review & Technology Journal in 1999. Upon graduation, Deanna was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Deanna is married to Howard Shullman, an orthodontist in Wellington, Florida. Deanna and Howard have two daughters, Madeline and Emma.

Thomas & LoCicero, with offices in Tampa and South Florida, is a team of highly skilled and experienced lawyers who routinely assist businesses and individuals in diverse litigation matters, including commercial litigation, trademark and copyright infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, antitrust, and unfair competition. The firm regularly counsels advertisers, trademark and copyright owners, and sponsors of promotional sweepstakes and contests on matters ranging from licensing to registration to compliance with state and federal statutes. The firm also represents newspapers, broadcasters, and entertainment companies in a variety of matters related to the First Amendment and the gathering and publishing of information.

For more information, contact Gregg Thomas or any other Thomas & LoCicero attorney at 813-984-3060, or visit http://www.tlolawfirm.com/.

Thomas & LoCicero lawyers Recognized as Best in America
Gregg D. Thomas and Carol Jean LoCicero will both be listed among the best First Amendment attorneys in the country in the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The 25th anniversary edition of the highly-regarded publication will name both Mr. Thomas and Ms. LoCicero among the best media lawyers, as chosen by a rigorous survey of their peers in the legal profession. They will be two of only fourteen First Amendment Lawyers listed from Florida. The Best Lawyers in America is noted as the top guide to legal excellence in the United States, because lawyers are nominated by their peers, are carefully screened, and do not pay or make any purchase to be listed. In addition, the peers of both Mr. Thomas and Ms. LoCicero have awarded them "AV" ratings, the highest ratings assigned by the Martindale Hubbell legal directory.

Thomas & LoCicero PL sponsored the 18th Annual Reporter's Workshop on October 22 - 23, 2007 in Tallahassee.
The Workshop invited 24 journalists to a two-day session to learn the basics in legal reporting from lawyers, judges and other experienced journalists. The Workshop was presented by the Florida Bar's Media & Communications Law Committee. Rachel Fugate was the Chair of the Committee, and Deanna Shullman was a Co-Chair of Fundraising for the Workshop. In addition, Deanna moderated a panel about false light invasion of privacy called "I Can get Sued for Telling the Truth?" and Rachel was a panelist on the topic of covering death penalty cases and appeals. More information about the Workshop can be found on the Florida Bar's website.

Partner Gregg D. Thomas Receives Freedom of Information Honor.
Thomas & LoCicero founding partner Gregg D. Thomas was recently inducted into the Florida Freedom of Information Hall of Fame.

The induction took place during a ceremony at the Florida Freedom of Information Summit at the University of Florida on September 21, 2007. The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, which hosted the summit, established the Hall of Fame to honor individuals who have helped develop and defend Florida's government-in-the-sunshine laws.

Thomas was selected for the honor because of his steadfast support for freedom of information over the last 30 years. He is the youngest member of the second class of inductees, which included such notables as the late Florida Supreme Court Justice James C. Adkins and Lakeland Ledger Executive Editor Louis Michael "Skip" Perez. The first class was inducted in 1997.

During the summit, Thomas moderated a panel discussion titled "Hit the Ground Running: FOI Advice for the Experts." Partner Carol LoCicero spoke during another panel, "Top 10 Tools for Your FOI Toolbox." The summit was attended by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, as well as attorneys, faculty, and journalists from across the state.

For highlights of the award visit the Brechner Center's website (http://www.brechner.org/FOI_Summit/hall_of_fame.html#thomas).