Ballard Spahr LLP

Litigation

Partner

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

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

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