Local Legal Initiative
About
The Local Legal Initiative provides local news organizations with the direct legal services they need to pursue enterprise and investigative stories in their communities.
Reporters Committee attorneys are currently based in five states — Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee — to help local journalists and news organizations defend their rights to gather and report the news, gain access to public records and court proceedings, and hold state and local government agencies and officials accountable. The Local Legal Initiative was also active in Oregon through 2022.
The Local Legal Initiative is partially funded by a $10 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of the foundation’s pledge to double its commitment to strengthening local journalism. The Reporters Committee and our partners are actively seeking further philanthropic support to sustain and grow the program.
Our impact
Now in its sixth year, the Local Legal Initiative has had a tremendous impact in Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, empowering journalists and news organizations in those states to tell stories that matter in their communities — about everything from public health and school safety to government transparency and law enforcement accountability.
As we explained in a report about the early success of the program, the Local Legal Initiative has not only helped inform local communities but also chipped away at the culture of secrecy in state and local government.
Colorado
In Colorado, Local Legal Initiative Attorney Rachael Johnson has helped journalists and news organizations push for greater government transparency and accountability. She has represented journalists and newsrooms in several public records and open meetings cases, including matters concerning access to the disciplinary records of school district administrators, the recording of a city’s unlawful executive session, data about the certification and training of Colorado law enforcement officers, and more.
Learn more about the Colorado Local Legal Initiative.
Indiana
Indiana is the most recent addition to the Local Legal Initiative. Since the program’s launch in 2024, Local Legal Initiative Attorney Kris Cundiff has filed two lawsuits on behalf of local newsrooms in the state: one seeking access to the cost of a lethal injection drug that enabled the state to carry out its first execution in 15 years, and another alleging that a local school board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by taking unlawful official action in a private meeting when filling a vacant board seat.
Learn more about the Indiana Local Legal Initiative.
Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, Reporters Committee attorneys have represented local journalists and newsrooms in a variety of litigation matters, including cases involving access to 911 call recordings, COVID-19 data, tribal government records, and more.
In January 2025, Leslie Briggs joined the Reporters Committee as the Local Legal Initiative attorney for Oklahoma.
Learn more about the Oklahoma Local Legal Initiative.
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, Local Legal Initiative Attorney Paula Knudsen Burke has helped journalists and news organizations across the state increase government transparency and accountability. She has represented local journalists and newsrooms in lawsuits against townships, counties, state agencies, universities, and more, prying loose public records that have fueled impactful investigative reporting, including stories about Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program, a prison contractor’s wrongful-death settlements, and a public transit agency’s failure to track incidents of sexual assault and harassment targeting its employees.
Learn more about the Pennsylvania Local Legal Initiative.
Tennessee
In Tennessee, Local Legal Initiative Attorney Paul McAdoo has litigated many public records and court access cases on behalf of journalists and newsrooms across the state, powering investigative stories about violence at a county jail, a fatal police beating, the salaries of a publicly owned hospital’s executives, and more.