Elizabeth E. Spainhour

Elizabeth Spainhour represents media, communications, and technology companies in a variety of regulatory and business matters.

She works with clients to buy and sell broadcast properties, regularly negotiating purchase agreements, providing representation through the regulatory approval process, and closing transactions.  Elizabeth also counsels clients on day-to-day issues related to compliance with FCC regulations, including the FCC’s Equal Employment Opportunities rules, ownership rules, children’s programming, contests, political advertising, and licensing and technical matters. She also conducts pre-publication review of news stories and book manuscripts. Additionally, Elizabeth assists companies with their website and privacy policies and represents competitive voice carriers in State regulatory proceedings. 

Elizabeth’s interest in communications law stems from her strong belief in the power of words and information. An avid reader, Elizabeth majored in English. After college, Elizabeth worked for three years in the academic publishing industry and later completed a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. As a member of a family of lawyers, she was reluctant to consider a career in law. But a course on mass communications law required for her Master’s degree exposed Elizabeth to constitutional law and the significant role media and technology play in our democracy. Law school immediately followed.

Years later, Elizabeth taught a similar course on mass communication law to undergraduate students at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Honors & Awards

• Recognized as a "Rising Star" in Communications by North Carolina Super Lawyers, 2011-12

Professional & Community Activities

• Co-Chair, Federal Communications Bar Association Carolinas Chapter
• Member, Federal Communications Bar Association
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, North Carolina Bar Association
• North CarolinaBar Association Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section – Section Council (2007-2011), Treasurer (2011- )
• Member, Wake County Bar Association

Articles, Publications & Speeches

• Contributor, Brooks Pierce's Newsroom Law Blog
• Panelist, "Using the New State Personnel Law," North Carolina Open Government Coalition Sunshine Day, March 2011
• Panelist, "Wikileaks," North Carolina State University Society for Collegiate Journalists, March 2011
• Presenter, "A Right to Record the Police?" North Carolina Bar Association CLE, February 2011
• “Court Watch:  Noonan v. Staples,” The Constitutionalist, May 2009.
• “Tennessee Court Rejects Effort to Limit Anonymous Internet Speech Relating to Criminal Proceeding,” Media Law Resource Center MediaLawLetter, May 2009.
• Panelist, "Who Foots the Open Government Access Bill," North Carolina Open Government Coalition Sunshine Day, March 2009
• Presenter, "What You Need to Know About Public Records in North Carolina," Lorman Educational Seminars CLE, November 2008
• “A Practitioner’s Guide to Cameras in the Courtroom,” North Carolina Bar Association CLE Paper, February 2008 (with Mark Prak).
• “Court Watch:  Parker v. District of Columbia,”The Constitutionalist, April 2007.
• Unsealing Settlements: Recent Efforts to Expose Settlement Agreements that Conceal Public Hazards, 82 N.C.L.Rev. 2155 (2004) 
• "Is Internet Service Provider Immunity Growing? An Examination of Immunity Under § 230 of the Communications Decency Act after Zeran." Presented at the National Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Washington, DC, August 2001.

News

• Brooks Pierce's Newsroom Law Blog

Seminars & Speaking Engagements

• Ramsey and Spainhour Present "Legal Beat: Using Music in Business and Publishing on the Internet"
• Coble and Spainhour Serve as Panelists for North Carolina Open Government Coalition's Seminar
• Spainhour Presents "Public Records in North Carolina"

Publications

• Indecency Challenges Proceed Through the Federal Courts, The Constitutionalist