New fellows join Reporters Committee’s legal team
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is excited to welcome new legal fellows who will support the organization’s efforts to provide free legal services to journalists and news outlets through litigation, friend-of-the-court briefs, pre-publication review, the Legal Hotline, and more.
The new fellows — Zachary Babo, Julia Dacy, Mayeesha Galiba, and Daniela del Rosario Wertheimer — join a growing Reporters Committee legal team dedicated to advocating for journalists’ First Amendment rights and helping members of the news media at the local and national level with legal questions and issues, such as accessing public records and meetings, and court proceedings.
“We are thrilled to welcome Zach, Julia, Mayeesha, and Dani to our legal team, where they will play a crucial role in the Reporters Committee’s work on behalf of journalists and news organizations,” said Katie Townsend, the Reporters Committee’s deputy executive director and legal director. “Each fellow comes to us with impressive legal skills and a strong commitment to fighting for journalists’ rights and greater government transparency.”
As the E.W. Scripps Legal Fellow, Babo will draft friend-of-the-court briefs and support the Reporters Committee’s litigation practice. A recent graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Babo joins the Reporters Committee after completing a clerkship with Judge Stuart R. Berger on the Appellate Court of Maryland. Before law school, Babo worked as a journalist for Baltimore’s WMAR 2 News, an E.W. Scripps station.
In her role as the media litigation fellow, Dacy will work with Reporters Committee attorneys on a variety of First Amendment and media law cases. Dacy recently graduated from the George Washington University Law School, where she was the editor-in-chief of the Federal Communications Law Journal. She previously interned at NBCUniversal, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and National Public Radio.
Galiba is the new NBCU News Group Race Equity in Journalism Legal Fellow. She will focus on providing pro bono legal support for journalists of color and newsrooms led by people of color. Galiba is a recent graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as an articles editor for the Georgetown Law Journal. She previously participated in the Health Justice Alliance legal clinic, and interned at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and the Alameda County Public Defender.
As the Jack Nelson-Dow Jones Legal Fellow, Wertheimer will mainly focus on federal and state open records matters. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2023, where she was awarded the Kraw Law Group Scholarship for her work on labor and employment issues. At Berkeley, Wertheimer was an articles editor for the California Law Review, a research assistant, and a student with the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in 2017 in sociology and anthropology.
The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our monthly newsletter and following us on Twitter or Instagram.