Cynthia L. Counts of FisherBroyles.Veteran Atlanta media lawyer Cynthia Counts has left Duane Morris, where she was a partner, for “virtual” firm FisherBroyles.
Counts said FisherBroyles’ business model offers more flexibility and transparency than that of a traditional firm. In particular, she was attracted to the “transparent, merit-based model, from which FisherBroyles attracts diverse attorneys from top-notch backgrounds,” she said in an interview.
“It affords greater flexibility and autonomy for me and my practice—and it’s more cost-effective for clients,” she said, noting that the model “promotes diversity because it’s not as regimented and hierarchical as at a traditional firm.”
FisherBroyles is a full-service, national firm, with about 270 lawyers in 22 U.S. cities, plus a London office that it added in February. Each of the firm’s partners has several years of experience, and most of them work remotely, even when there isn’t a pandemic.
Overhead is lower than for a traditional firm, since FisherBroyles isn’t paying for expensive office space and associates. According to the firm, that means lawyers can charge clients lower rates and still make more money. There are no billing targets and if a lawyer wants office space or a secretary, they pay that cost themselves.
“It’s a great business model—and a real paradigm shift in how quality legal services can be delivered to clients,” Counts said.
“FisherBroyles is perfect for someone like me,” added Counts, who had her own firm before joining Duane Morris in 2015. “I typically originate my own business, but there are opportunities for collaboration with other lawyers.”
With Counts, FisherBroyles lists a dozen attorneys on its website practicing First Amendment law.
Counts said she joined Duane Morris five years ago after running her own firm for 15 years with the aim of building a national media law practice—and succeeded. “I did not make this move lightly,” she said. “I’m forever grateful to Duane Morris for that.”
She’s recently handled cases in Michigan, Connecticut and other states for Nexstar Media Group, the largest television station operator in the country. Currently, Counts is lead counsel for Mainely Media in a Maine libel case.
In one Connecticut case, Georgetti v. Nexstar, she won a motion to dismiss for Nexstar, based on the state’s anti-SLAPP law, after a courthouse marshal sued one of its journalists and TV stations over their reporting of his alleged sexual misconduct.
Counts is an experienced litigator, but she said her passion is media law. “Even if I don’t agree with the speech I feel that I am defending something important,” she said. “We don’t want First Amendment statements about government officials or investigations to be chilled.”
She handles various aspects of media law, from pre-publication review to defending media companies in libel, invasion of privacy and other newsgathering torts. She also represents individuals in First Amendment and civil rights cases—including many on social media.
In one high-profile Georgia case, Counts in October won a $100,000 settlement and a public apology for Anne King. Five years earlier, King had made a seemingly benign complaint on Facebook about her ex-husband that caused her to be arrested and charged with criminal defamation—a charge that was ruled unconstitutional in Georgia in 1982.
King’s post was the following; “Feeling overwhelmed. That moment when everyone in your house has the flu and you ask your kid’s dad to get them (not me) more Motrin and Tylenol and he refuses.”
Her ex-husband, a sheriff’s deputy in Tennille, Georgia, took offense, even after she complied with his request to remove the post, and had her arrested.
“The fact that it was a public settlement and a public apology was crucial for Ms. King,” Counts told the Daily Report in October, because of “the value of deterring other police officers in the future from displaying the same abuse of power.”
Counts serves on the boards of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and the ABA Forum on Communications Law. She is co-chair of the Media Law Resource Center’s Newsgathering Committee. She has also taught media law classes to both journalism and law students at Emory University.
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