Subpoena Defense Resources
Were you recently notified by your ISP or blogging platform that you have been sued for copyright infringement for your online activity? Were you informed that your ISP would be providing your identity to the lawyers for the person or entity that has sued you shortly (usually within 30 days) unless you took action to stop this from happening by filing a motion to quash or to dismiss the case? If so, this page is to help you find counsel to assist you in sorting out your options.
Attorneys who are interested in joining this list should contact info@eff.org with the subject line "Subpoena Defense Attorney Addition."
Please note that we do not screen or evaluate the attorneys on the Subpoena Defense Resources list. Each person contacting a lawyer from the list should make their own independent evaluation of whether the referred attorney is the right one for the particular case. In most states you can check with the State Bar website for the current status and record of lawyers in that state, but you should make your own judgment about which attorney is right for you.
What’s going on?
A series of lawsuits have been filed across the U.S. against thousands of individuals accused of having illegally uploaded and downloaded movies in violation of copyright law. Some of these are independent films such as “The Dallas Buyers Club” and some are for pornographic films.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuits have obtained IP addresses they allege are associated with infringement, and have received permission from the court to issue subpoenas to Internet Service Providers ("ISPs") to obtain the name and address of subscribers associated with those IP addresses.
What Should I Do?
If you are a target, you probably have questions about how to proceed and may wish to seek legal counsel. Because individual cases are unique, EFF recommends that defendants contact an attorney in either the state where the lawsuit was filed or their home state for a consultation. Because so many people need legal help, and usually on a very short time frame, the following attorneys have offered to assist those targeted to understand their options. Fees are negotiable on a case by case basis. These attorneys may, if necessary, file a motion to quash or otherwise intervene on behalf of subpoena targets who retain them as counsel. The attorneys on this list are not affiliated with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in any way and by offering their names EFF does not intend to give any individual endorsement of them.
If you wish to move to quash or dismiss, you (or your attorney) must file a motion with the court. Also be aware that contacting the court or the plaintiff's counsel yourself risks publicly exposing your identity, which would make the subpoena moot. Last, your ISP will not file for you, and simply sending a copy to your ISP is not enough to protect your identity. If possible, it is usually best to retain counsel to assist.
General Resources
- Frequently Asked Questions for Subpoena Targets
- Parental Liability for Copyright Infringement by Minor Children: A memo helping parents figure out whether they have legal liability when the filesharing is done by their children.
- Memo Re Discharge of Copyright Judgments in Bankruptcy: A memo discussing the possibility of filing bankruptcy in response to a filesharing lawsuit.
- Court-Directed Notice
Attorneys offering assistance
Alaska
- Ben Justus brj@lybeckmurphy.com
- Lory Lybeck lrl@lybeckmurphy.com
Arizona
- Aaron Kelly aaron@aaronkellylaw.com
- White Berberian PLC sberberian@wbazlaw.com
California
- Brian Corber corberlaw@aol.com
- Curt Edmondson jcedmondson@edmolaw.com
- Andrew K. Jacobson andrew@bayoaklaw.com
- Stewart Kellar stewart@etrny.com
- David H. Madden dhm@mersenne.com
- Art Neill support@newmediarights.org
- Thomas A. Pedreira tap@lybelderckmurphy.com
- Morgan E. Pietz mpietz@pietzlawfirm.com
- Danny J. Simon danny@lslawpl.com
- Will Skinner will@skinneresq.com
- Steven Yuen syuen@krolaw.com
- Brandon Wiebe wiebe@gamallp.com
- Andrew Winghart drew@WinghartLaw.com
Colorado
- Matthew B. Aguero maguero@aguerolawpc.com
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- John A. Arsenault john.arsenault@frontrangelegalservices.com
- Lara L. Griffith lara@nouveaulaw.com
- David Kerr dkerr@idea-asset.com
- Charles Mudd cmudd@muddlawoffices.com
- Christina Saunders christina@nouveaulaw.com
Connecticut
- Christopher M. Hennessey chennessey@cohenkinne.com
- Charles Mudd cmudd@muddlawoffices.com
Delaware
- John P. Deckers john@johndeckerslaw.com
- Aman K. Sharma k.aman.sharma@gmail.com
Florida
- Cynthia Conlin cynthiaconlin@cynthiaconlin.com
- Kubs Lalchandani kubs@lslawpl.com
- Carlos A. Leyva cleyva@digitalbusinesslawgroup.com
- David Magana dmagana@addmg.com
- Jeffrey P. Manners lawmanners@aol.com
- Bradford Patrick bap@baplegal.com
- Danny J. Simon danny@lslawpl.com
- Graham Syfert graham@syfert.com
- David Tamaroff david@tamarofflaw.com
- Richard M. Viscasillas rmvpa007@gmail.com
- William R. Wohlsifer william@wohlsifer.com
- Katharine H. Ballingrud khballin@gmail.com
Georgia
- Blair Chintella bchintel1@gmail.com
- Jay Fisher jumpfish@yahoo.com
- Yasha Heidari yasha@heidariplank.com
- Graham Syfert graham@syfert.com
Idaho
- John Chandler Meline john@melinelegal.com
Illinois
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- Edward Bi ebi@sherinianlaw.net
- Adam J. Gratch gratchlaw@gmail.com
- David Gulbransen david@gulbransenlaw.com
- William J. Mills billy@firmequity.com
- Charles Mudd cmudd@muddlawoffices.com
- Jonathan LA Phillips jphillips@skplawyers.com
- Michelle Rozovics mrozovics@rozovicslaw.com
- Erin Russell erin@russellfirmchicago.com
- Daliah Saper ds@saperlaw.com
- David Valentine-Elam david@artandtechlaw.com
- Raymond G. Wigell, ndietsch@waaltd.com
- Scott Zambo ScottZambo@kelleykelleykelley.com
Indiana
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- Kenan Farrell kfarrell@klflegal.com
- Brian Kelly bkelly@jonesobenchain.com
- David Lynch dplynch@gmail.com
- Charles Mudd cmudd@muddlawoffices.com
- Paul Overhauser poverhauser@overhauser.com
- William Wilson wilson@aaklaw.com
Louisiana
- Ryan Goudelocke ryan@dmsfirm.com
- Mark N. Melasky mmelasky@koeppeltraylor.com
Maryland
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- Christina N. Boffen cboffen@gmail.com
- David A. Burkhouse dburkhouse@hpklegal.com
- Denese Dominguez denesedominguez@gmail.com
- David S. Harvis dharvis@hpklegal.com
- Michael Kushnir mkatlaw@gmail.com
- Kimberly McLean kmayolawub@aol.com
- Tuna Mecit tmecit@gmail.com
- Eric Menhart eric.menhart@cyberlaw.pro
- Shane Nikalao shane@alanlegum.com
Massachusetts
- Christopher M. Hennessey chennessey@cohenkinne.com
- Eric Menhart eric.menhart@cyberlaw.pro
- Edward Molari edward@molarilaw.com
- Mark Pogue mpogue@eapdlaw.com
- Kevin O'Leary koleary@coughlinbetke.com
- Jason Sweet jsweet@boothsweet.com
- Evan Fray-Witzer evan@cfwlegal.com
Michigan
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- Steve Glista steve@rationallaw.com
- Eric Grimm ecgrimm@williamshugheslaw.com
- John T. Hermann hermannlawoffices@comcast.net
- Samir Dahman sdahman@dahmanlaw.com
Minnesota
- Paul Godfread paul@godfreadlaw.com
- Aaron Hall ahall@TwinCitiesFirm.com
- Chris K. Sandberg cksandberg@locklaw.com
- Mark Santi ms@TwinCitiesFirm.com
Mississippi
- Stephen P. Ryan subpoenadefense@koeppeltraylor.com
Missouri
- Eric F. Kayira eric.kayira@kayiralaw.com
- Richard Stevens rstevensatty@sbcglobal.net
Nevada
- Christina DiEdoardo christina@diedoardolaw.com
New Hampshire
- Christopher M. Hennessey chennessey@cohenkinne.com
- Jeffrey Techentin jtechentin@apslaw.com
- Evan Fray-Witzer Evan@cfwlegal.com
New Jersey
- Jonathan Cohen jzcohen@gmail.com
- Leslie A. Farber lfarber@lfarberlaw.com
- Jeffrey C. Neu info@jeffreyneu.com
- Maurice N. Ross mross@bartonesq.com
- Aman K. Sharma k.aman.sharma@gmail.com
- David Wisniewski dwisniewski@me.com
New York
- Jonathan Askin jonathan.askin@brooklaw.edu
- Ray Beckerman ray@beckermanlegal.com
- Matthew John Burnham attorney@matthewburnham.com
- Robert Cashman rzcashman@gmail.com
- Tudor F. Capusan info@tudorlawfirm.com
- Brian Corber corberlaw@aol.com
- James Gross jgross11@aol.com
- Christopher M. Hennessey chennessey@cohenkinne.com
- Kubs Lalchandani kubs@lslawpl.com
- David D. Lin david@iLawco.com
- Dani Manor danimanor@gmail.com
- Jeffrey C. Neu info@jeffreyneu.com
- Morlan Ty Rogers mtrogers@beckermanlegal.com
- Maurice N. Ross mross@bartonesq.com
- Paul Siepmann pksesq@yahoo.com
- Kelly Talcott kdtlaw@gmail.com
North Carolina
- Stephen Robertson srobertson@robertsonmedlin.com
North Dakota
- Joel Fremstad joel@fremstadlaw.com
Ohio
- David Valentine-Elam david@artandtechlaw.com
- Kubs Lalchandani kubs@lslawpl.com
- Melissa Brabender mbrabender@antonelli-law.com
- Samir Dahman sdahman@dahmanlaw.com
Oregon
- Alex Golubitsky alex@marjorierobertspc.com
- Scott Jerger scott@fieldjerger.com
- Ben Justus brj@lybeckmurphy.com
- Lory Lybeck lrl@lybeckmurphy.com
- David H. Madden dhm@mersenne.com
- Rick McLeod richard.mcleod@klarquist.com
- Eric Norman ean@lybeckmurphy.com
- Lake Perriguey lake@law-works.com
Pennsylvania
- Johnathan Cohan jzcohen@gmail.com
- Leonard J. French ljfrench@leonardjfrench.com
- Jeffrey C. Neu info@jeffreyneu.com
- Steven O'Donnell sodonnell@3cpatents.com
- Charles Thomas ct@thomastrials.com
- Aman Sharma asharma@mwm-law.com
- David Wisniewski dwisniewski@me.com
- Brian Auerbach bauerbach@patentstrademarks.com
Rhode Island
- Neville Bedford nevillebedford@gmail.com
- Mark Pogue mpogue@eapdlaw.com
Tennessee
- Wilson C. von Kessler, II wvonkessler@markelmajor.com
- Stephen J. Zralek szralek@bonelaw.com
Texas
- Robert Cashman rzcashman@gmail.com
- W. Scarth Clark subpoenadefense@koeppeltraylor.com
- Eric Grimm ecgrimm@williamshugheslaw.com
- Max Harger max@hargerlawoffice.com
- William Lovin wlovin@williamlovin.com
- John Chandler Meline john@melinelegal.com
- Charles Mudd cmudd@muddlawoffices.com
- Warren V. Norred wnorred@norredlaw.com
- Dan Tamaroff dan@tamarofflaw.com
Utah
- Seth W. Black sblack@wnlaw.com
- Charles Mudd cmudd@muddlawoffices.com
- Christina Saunders christina@nouveaulaw.com
Virginia
- Dirk McClanahan dmcclanahan@mcplegal.com
- Robert Powers rpowers@mcplegal.com
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
Washington
- Ben Justus brj@lybeckmurphy.com
- Lory Lybeck lrl@lybeckmurphy.com
- Gary K. Marshall gary@marshallcomputer.com
- Mike Matesky mike@mateskylaw.com
- Rick McLeod richard.mcleod@klarquist.com
- John Chandler Meline john@melinelegal.com
- Eric Norman ean@lybeckmurphy.com
- Bradford Patrick bap@baplegal.com
Washington D.C.
- Elliott Alderman thecontentlawyer@verizon.net
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- Lisa Dunner ldunner@dunnerlaw.com
- Eric Grimm ecgrimm@williamshugheslaw.com
- David Kerr dkerr@idea-asset.com
- Lory Lybeck lrl@lybeckmurphy.com
- Kimberly McLean kmayolawub@aol.com
- Eric Menhart eric.menhart@cyberlaw.pro
- Tuna Mecit tmecit@gmail.com
- Robert Powers rpowers@mcplegal.com
- William R. Wohlsifer william@wohlsifer.com
West Virginia
- Richard Smith rich@richsmithlaw.com
Wisconsin
- Jeffrey Antonelli jeffrey@antonelli-Law.com
- Michelle Rozovics mrozovics@rozovicslaw.com
- Erin Russell erin@russellfirmchicago.com
US Virgin Islands
- Alex Golubitsky alex@marjorierobertspc.com
eff.org/nsa-spying
