Ballard Spahr LLP

Litigation 

Senior Counsel

Michael D. Sullivan has represented journalists, newspapers, syndicated columnists, production companies, networks, and news sources in high-stakes libel, privacy, entertainment, and copyright cases for more than 30 years.

Among other landmark cases, he represented columnist Jack Anderson in the successful defense of a libel suit by the self-described Liberty Lobby. Among his notable media trials, Michael served as lead trial counsel for a Minneapolis television station, obtaining a defense verdict after a six-week jury trial in a libel suit filed by a widow who claimed she had been falsely accused of murdering her husband.

Best Lawyers has reported that "Michael Sullivan is probably the best jury-trial lawyer for a media defendant bar none." That view was echoed by The Legal 500 US, which has written that "clients consider him one of the best jury trial lawyers in the country." Chambers USA has reported that clients have called Michael "a great, great lawyer." Jack Anderson's memoir describes him as "the soft-spoken Sullivan, a ferocious defender of the First Amendment."

Media Law Resource Center, Trial Practice Committee, past Co-Chair

Guides Trust Foundation

Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., magna cum laude, 1980)

The Ohio State University (B.A., summa cum laude, 1977)