Defamation/Free Speech

Dhillon & Smith’s attorneys have defended the Constitutional right to free speech for decades. We have represented clients – including volunteer organizations – besieged by meritless attempts by public and private individuals and entities to quell their speech. In 2010 our firm won a landmark anti-SLAPP (“strategic lawsuit against public participation”) on behalf of the elected leadership of a 1 million member plus political party unit. We have also represented several individuals who are the targets of defamatory speech, including farm workers in Monterey defamed by their former employer, an executive of a large pharmaceutical company defamed by former colleagues, and several private citizens defamed by former friends or colleagues. We also represent our business clients in trade libel matters, protecting the goodwill that they have built up through years of effort against careless or deliberate smears by competitors or critics. Our clients include on-air journalists fired for the content of their speech, and a veteran attacked anonymously online. We are zealous free speech advocates, while protecting our clients from speech that strays beyond the contours of the law into character assassination or damaging trade libel. Our approach has successfully resolved numerous speech-related disputes for clients from all walks of life.