Reporters Committee names Eric Feder Local Legal Initiative director
Today, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press announced Eric Feder as its Local Legal Initiative director, where he will oversee the growing program that provides local news organizations the free legal support they need to pursue enterprise and investigative reporting in their communities. Feder joins the Reporters Committee after nearly 13 years at the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, where he was most recently a partner focused on media, intellectual property, and commercial litigation.
“We are thrilled to welcome Eric to the Reporters Committee and the Local Legal Initiative,” said Reporters Committee Vice President of Legal Programs Lisa Zycherman. “His experience protecting journalists’ legal rights makes him an excellent fit to lead this powerhouse team of local attorneys dedicated to delivering legal resources to newsrooms that need them most.”
Feder’s hire marks the latest addition to the Local Legal Initiative team, which most recently expanded to Indiana. Now in its sixth year, the program has transformed the local news landscape in Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, helping journalists in those states access public records and court proceedings, defend their rights to gather and report the news, and hold local government accountable.
In 2024 alone, for example, Local Legal Initiative attorneys secured a precedent-setting transparency win in a challenge to a secret city council meeting in Colorado, obtained surveillance footage of violent confrontations between inmates and correctional officers at a Tennessee jail, and shook loose records that fueled an investigation into Pennsylvania’s oversight of its medical marijuana program.
As director of the Local Legal Initiative, Feder will manage the program’s growing legal portfolios and its planned expansion.
“At a time when local newsrooms face mounting legal challenges and shrinking resources, the Local Legal Initiative is crucial to meeting their legal needs so they can produce reporting that holds power to account,” Feder said. “I’m excited to get to work.”
Before joining DWT, Feder clerked for Judge J. Paul Oetken and Judge Kimba M. Wood in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He also previously worked as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is the leading pro bono legal services provider for journalists and news organizations in the United States, offering direct legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our newsletters and following us on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.