Professor of Law Emeritus
Education
Ph.D., Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, 2011
J.D., University of Maryland, 1989
B.S., Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, 1968
Areas of Expertise
Constitutional Law
Contracts
Legal Writing
Media Law
Torts
Easton served as the director of UBalt's LL.M. in the Law of the United States program. He also is a senior research associate in UBalt's Center for International and Comparative Law and coordinated CICL's China-related programs. In addition, Easton is the editor of the Journal of Media Law and Ethics.
Easton also chaired the Maryland State Bar Association's Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and the University's Institutional Review Board. He also served on The Daily Record's editorial board. He is currently an executive board member and past chair of the Mass Communications Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools. He is past chair of the Communication Skills Committee of the American Bar Association's Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, the International Communication Association, the Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute.
Easton is a member of the University of Maryland School of Law's Order of the Coif.
Before joining the UBalt faculty in 1993, Easton taught media law and other subjects at Loyola University in Maryland. He has also taught Comparative Cyberlaw at the University of the Netherland Antilles, Curacao; Comparative Media Law at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland; and U.S. Constitutional and Copyright Law at Shandong University, China. He has also been a visiting scholar at the Journalism Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Before joining the academy, Easton was a professional journalist and publisher for more than 20 years.
Selected Publications
Books, Book Chapters and Supplements
Defending The Masses: A Progressive Lawyer’s Battles for Free Speech, University of Wisconsin Press (2018).
Copyright, in Patent, Copyright, Trade Secret, Right of Publicity, Trademark Handbook for Maryland Business and Litigation Lawyers (James B. Astrachan, ed.) (Fall 2013).
Mobilizing the Press: Defending the First Amendment in the Supreme Court, Vandeplas Publishing Co. (2012).
Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs, 2d Ed., American Bar Association (general editor) (September 2006).
The First Amendment in Cyberspace, in Learning Cyberlaw in Cyberspace (Lydia Loren, Project Coordinator, 1999).
Incorporating Law Practice Experience in a Chinese-American Academic Exchange, in International Law School Deans Conference on Legal Education for the 21st Century, 387 (English), 396 (Chinese) (1999).
Values, Borders and the Internet, in Communication and Culture: China and the World Entering the 21st Century, 225 (D. Ray Heisey & Wenxiang Gong, eds., Rodopi, 1998).
Articles and Essays
Topolino Giornalista: A Crusading Journalist in Mussolini's Italy, The Media History Exchange (2012) (online only).
Ten Years After: Bartnicki v. Vopper as Laboratory for First Amendment Advocacy and Analysis, 50 U. Louisville L. Rev. 287 (2011).
Book Review: The Free Press Crisis of 1800: Thomas Cooper's Trial for Seditious Libel, 21 L. & Pol. Book Rev. 486 (2011) (invited book review).
LRW Program Design: A Manifesto for the Future, 61 Mercer L. Rev. 39 (2110) (symposium transript); 16 Leg. Writing 1 (2010).
A House Divided: Earl Caldwell, the New York Times, and the Quest for a Testimonial Privilege, 2009 Utah L. Rev. 1293 (2009).
The Colonel's Finest Campaign: Robert R. McCormick & Near v. Minnesota , 60 Fed. Comm. L. J. 183 (2008).
The Press as an Interest Group: Mainstream Media in the United States Supreme Court, 14 UCLA Ent. L. Rev. 247 (2007).
Of Secrets and Spies: Strengthening the Public's Right to Know About the CIA, 17 Stan. L. & Policy Rev. 353 (2006) (with Martin Halstuk, Ph.D.).
Who Owns the 'First, Rough Draft of History'? Reconsidering Copyright in News, 27 Colum. J.L. & Arts 521 (2004).
Public Importance: Balancing Proprietary Rights and the Right to Know, 21 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L. J. 139 (2003).
The 'Right to Know' in American Jurisprudence, 1 Const. and Admin. L. J. 140 (2002) (Shandong U. Law School, Ji'nan, P.R. China).
Law Schools Explore Three-Semester Writing Programs, 34 Syllabus 8 (Sept. 2002).
Current Developments in Cyberspace, 9 U. Balt. Intell. Prop. L.J. 181 (2001).
Annotating the News: Mitigating the Effects of Media Convergence and Consolidation, 23 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 143 (2000). Abridgement presented at Symposium on "Media Law and Ethics Enter the 21st Century," UALR (April 2000).
Sovereign Indignity? Values, Borders and the Internet: A Case Study , 21 Seattle University Law Review 441 (1998). Abridgement presented at Communication and Culture: China and the World Entering 21st Century, Beijing University, August 1996, and republished in Critical Studies 12 (Rodopi 1998) and in 4 Journalism & Mass Commun. 95 (1997), Institute of Journalism, Chinese Academy of Social Science (in Chinese).
Two Wrongs Mock a Right: Overcoming the Cohen Maledicta that Bar First Amendment Protection for Newsgathering, 58 Ohio State L.J. 1135 (1997).
Protecting Intellectual Property Rights Through Civil Litigation: A Symposium, 5 U. Balt. Intell. Prop. L.J. 1 (1997). Abridgement presented at International Law School Deans Conference on Legal Education in the 21st Century, China University of Political Science and Law. Beijing, May 1999, and published in conference proceedings (English and Chinese).
Legal Research & Writing Taught by Supervised Adjuncts, in The Politics of Legal Writing: Proceedings of a Conference for Legal Research and Writing Program Directors (West 1995) (with Sharon Reich).
Closing the Barn Door After the Genie is Out of the Bag: Recognizing a 'Futility Principle' in First Amendment Jurisprudence, 45 DePaul Law Review 1 (1995).
Articles on Social Science Research Network
Case Notes
United States v. Harvey: Are Criminal Defense Fees More Vulnerable Than Necessary?, 47 Md L. Rev. 322 (1988).
Survey of Developments in Maryland Law, 1986-87: Constitutional Law, 47 Md. L. Rev. 758 (1988) (collaborative).