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Lawyers for Reporters

Our Mission

Lawyers for Reporters sustains public interest reporting in the United States with pro bono legal services to foster civic awareness, government accountability, and democratic engagement.

Lawyers for Reporters, a Vance Center initiative, provides pro bono legal assistance to local and mission-driven journalism organizations in the United States. LFR was created to empower these outlets to investigate and inform their communities about the issues that affect their lives.

Public interest organizations issuing reports, which face similar challenges as media outlets, may also access our services.

Learn more about what we do and how to contact us, and meet our team.

Our Impact

321
Clients
44
U.S. States
255
Co-Counsel Attorneys

Our Clients

LFR clients include local publishers, national publications, film and podcast producers, journalism support organizations, and journalists in exile working to establish their own publications.

We work with independent, mission-driven news organizations that report to communities and in locations that have been historically excluded from traditional media reporting. These outlets are doing essential work covering issues that matter to their communities, telling stories that might not otherwise reach the public, addressing gaps in coverage, and fighting back against the news deserts spreading across the United States.

From robust newsrooms to agile, one-person operations, our clients cover everything from national parks to the interests of disabled and chronically ill persons to extremism in the rural U.S.

Featured Client Reporting

LFR in the News

They were knowledgeable, they were compassionate, they were professional, and they really made me feel like they were committed to helping me as an independent journalist. In fact, I can say unequivocally that having professional representation by Lawyers for Reporters was the reason I was able to focus on keeping my business open and sustainable during one of the hardest times, in 2020 during the pandemic.

Zawadi Morris, Founder and Editor,

BK Reader

I don’t think I could put a price tag on the help that Lawyers for Reporters provided LION Publishers and our members with in 2020. They’ve connected a number of promising but small and underfunded local news providers with pro bono legal advice. That resource came at the start of the pandemic, during the leanest of times.

Chris Krewson, Executive Director,

LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers