Martin Garbus

Martin Garbus (born 1934) is an American attorney who is expert in trial law. He has tried cases throughout the country involving constitutional, criminal, copyright, and intellectual property law. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the nation. He has written numerous briefs that have been submitted to the United States Supreme Court; a number of which have resulted in changes in the law on a nationwide basis. He is the author of six books and over 100 articles.

PERSONAL

Martin Garbus graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1955. He earned his undergraduate degree at Hunter College in 1955 and his Juris Doctor from New York University Law School. He thereafter attended Columbia University as a Master’s Candidate in economics, at the New School as a Master’s Candidate in English and at New York University Law School as a Master’s Candidate in tax law. He wrote for the New York University Law Review.

EARLY CAREER AND LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP

After law school and after two years in the United States Army, he clerked for Emile Zola Berman, a nationally-known trial lawyer, and Ephraim London, a Supreme Court advocate and Constitutional lawyer. He was in 1966 Co-Director of the Columbia University Center on Social Policy and Law while he taught law at Columbia. He was Director Counsel of the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU, Legal Director and Associate Director of the ACLU, as well as Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. He formed his own law firm, Frankfurt Garbus, in 1977, and in 2003 became a partner at Davis & Gilbert. He subsequently taught at an adjunct professor at Yale Law School, and has lectured at many law schools, including Harvard University Law School and Stanford Law School. From 2002 to 2004, as a Fulbright Scholar recipient, he taught at Tsinghua and Renmin law schools in Beijing, China. At the same time he taught judges and drafters of China’s new laws.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CASES INCLUDE

• In a 5-4 decision reached by the United States Supreme CourtMr. Garbus filed what is arguably the most important due process case of the 20th century, Goldberg v. Kelly (397 U.S. 254)
• Arguing in the United States Supreme Court after a trial in Alabama, Mr. Garbus won in King v. Smith (392 U.S. 309), a unanimous 9-0 decision striking down laws in 14 states on the grounds they violated the Constitution. These laws had disenfranchised one million people
• Served as co-counsel in Ashton v. Kentucky (384 U.S. 195), a Supreme Court decision that struck down all criminal libel laws in the United States
• Served as co-counsel in Jacobellis v. Ohio (378 U.S. 184), where the Supreme Court held unconstitutional an Ohio statute seeking to regulate motion pictures and, for the first time, defined the term “national community standards.”

QUOTES ABOUT MARTIN GARBUS

In 2007, Business Week called him "legendary" and a "ferocious litigator"; Time Magazine named him "legendary, one of the best trial lawyers in the country." Fortune Magazine called him, "One of the nation's premier First Amendment attorneys," and "legendary", while Newsweek and The National Law Journal called him "America's most prominent First Amendment lawyer" with an "extraordinarily diverse practice" and "one of the country's top ten litigators." Super Lawyers Magazine designated him as a “Superlawyer.” New York Magazine and Los Angeles Magazine, over the last eleven years have named him both as one of America’s best trial lawyers, and one of America’s best intellectual property lawyers.

PUBLIC SPEAKING:

Mr. Garbus has participated in lectures and debates before the American Bar Association, the Bar Associations of New York, Washington and Los Angeles. Mr. Garbus debated former Independent Prosecutor Kenneth Starr at venues across the country. He served as a commentator for NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, CNN, Fox News, Court TV, Time and Newsweek. Martin Garbus has been a commentator at the Huffington Post

SELECTED WRITINGS BY MARTIN GARBUS

• The Roberts Court's Dramatic Rightward Shift - New York Times - July 10, 2006
• China: A Consistent Commitment To The Rule Of Intellectual Property and Corporate Law - China Corporate Counsel- Part I, Page 1, June 2006
• China: A Consistent Commitment To The Rule Of Intellectual Property and Corporate Law - China Corporate Counsel- Part II, Page 8 - July 2006
• The Barry Bonds Case from the New York Times, The Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, & other papers - 2006
• A Hostile Takeover, The American Prospect, March 1, 2003
• Lolita and the Lawyers, Bookend: The New York Times Sunday Book Review, November 4, 2002
• The Integrity of Copyright, Media Law & Policy (New York Law School), Spring 2002
• I'm Proud to be a Lawyer! The Legal Issues in The Attempt to Impeach Clinton, My Observer, December 11, 2000
• Supreme Court to Press: Drop Dead, Washington Post, July 12, 2000
• A Senate Conviction Could Be Overturned, New York Times, Jan. 8, 1999
• Annual Survey of American Law: Keynote Address, State of the Union for the Law of the new Millennium, the Internet and the First Amendment, New York University School of Law, 1999 Volume, Issue 2 (Fall 1999)
• Crime and Publishing: 'Son of Sam' laws are opposed to real First Amendment Interests and must be struck down, Publishers Weekly, May 13, 1999
• The Judicial Branch Has Obligations, Too, New York Times, January 8, 1999
• The Lawyer's Bookshelf: Deliberate Intent: A Lawyer Tells the True Story of Murder by the Book (book review), New York Law Journal, Sept. 14, 1999
• The Lawyer's Bookshelf: Don't Shoot the Messenger: How Our Growing Hatred of the Media Threatens Free Speech for All of Us (book review), New York Law Journal, Oct. 26, 1999
• Law Courts Make Lousy Art Critics, New York Forum, Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1998
• The Indecent Standard, The Nation, April 13, 1998
• The Lawyer's Bookshelf: High Crimes and misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (book review), New York Law Journal, Sept. 4, 1998
• Private Censorship, New York Law Journal, Dec. 1, 1997
• Recalling The Papers and the Papers, National Law Journal, July 15, 1996
• First, Give Rwanda Aid, New York Times, April 29, 1995
• Let's Do Away With 'Son of Sam' Laws, New York Law Journal, March 31, 1995
• Let's Do Away with 'Son of Sam' Laws, Publishers Weekly, February 13, 1995
• Jurists Without Borders, New York Times, Nov. 17, 1994
• Law review: It's OK to criticize as long as long as it's positive,

Daily Variety, April 11, 1994

• My Mother, Book Reviews and the First Amendment, Publishers Weekly, April 25 1994
• Thumper Rabbit to Replace Siskel and Ebert, New York Newsday, March 10, 1994
• Who Owns Electronic Rights in the New Media?, New York Law Journal, Dec. 23, 1994
• The Attack on I.F. Stone: An Exchange, New York Review of Books, Dec. 3, 1992
• The Lawyer's Bookshelf: The FBI/s War on Freedom of Expression, New York Law Journal, April 1, 1992
• In at the Birth of a New Constitution, Columbia Journalism Review, Nov./Dec. 1991
• Libel Case Ruling Will Haunt Publishing World, New York Times, June 28, 1991
• Will the 'Cheever' Case Affect Other Author/Publisher Relationships?, New York Law Journal, Aug. 6, 1991
• With Malice Toward None, The Nation, Oct. 28, 1991
• New Finale Would Appall Beckett, New York Times, March 23, 1990
• Thornburgh's Morality Brigade, New York Times, April 28, 1990
• Limiting Our Rights: New Supreme Court Decisions Hit Hard at First Amendment Freedoms, Publishers Weekly, August 18, 1989
• Outside Counsel Column, New York Law Journal, Nov. 8, 1989
• Supreme Court's Recent Libel Law Rulings Impairing Media's Rights Under 'Sullivan,' New York Law Journal, Sept. 5, 1989
• Taiwan Rigs Its Election, New York Times, Dec. 2, 1989
• Was Major Alley A Scapegoat? A Soldier's Disgrace by Don J. Snyder (book review), Los Angeles Times, Sept. 27, 1989
• The Media Under Siege, Washington Post, Aug. 4, 1989
• Who Will Defend Our Right to Read? Government Agencies Must Be Prepared to Move Forcefully to Protect Booksellers, Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1989
• A Travesty of Libel, New York Law Journal, Sept. 26, 1989
• An Unofficial Secrets Act?, New York Times, Nov. 8, 1988
• Israel's Military-Injustice System, New York Times, Jan. 26, 1988
• Allowing Publication of a Journal, New York Times, July 23, 1987
• The Many Costs of Libel, Publishers Weekly, Sept. 5, 1986
• Set a Standard, New York Times, Feb. 19, 1986
• Lawyers Should Not Testify Against Clients, New York Times, December 16, 1985
• The D.A. Errs in the Goetz Case, New York Magazine, Feb. 2, 1985
• Excluding Justice, New York Times, April 4, 1983
• The Limits for Libel, New York Times Sunday Magazine, July 29, 1983
• South Africa: The Death of Justice, New York Review of Books, Aug. 4, 1977
• South African Justice, New York Review of Books, Sept. 15, 1977
• Speech & Power: Is First Amendment Absolutism Obsolete?, The Nation, July 21, 1997
• New Mag in Moscow, New York Review of Books, Aug. 13, 1987
• Of 2 South African Trials ('Facades'), New York Times, July 20, 1977
• Two South African Trials - August 1977
• An Observer's Report - August 1977
• The Case Against Perry Mason, New York Times, Dec. 28, 1975
• On Trial in Chile, New York Times, Aug. 8, 1974
• A Lawyer's Thoughts - Nixon should be disbarred, New York Times, May 28, 1973
• Now Less Protection for the Compelled Witness, New York Times, May 28, 1972
• In Defense of Chavez, New York Times, Jan. 12, 1972
• The Problem of the 'Dynamite' Charge, New York Times, Oct. 8, 1972
• The Right to Break the Law, New York Times, June 18, 1972

SELECTED ARTICLES ABOUT MARTIN GARBUS, CASES AND BOOKS

• "Blogger Makes Deal, Is Released From Jail" - Washington Post, April 4, 2007
• "Canceled by Principal, Student Play Heads to Off Broadway" - The New York Times, April 12, 2007
• "Q&A: Martin Garbus Media Litigator and MPAA Ratings Critic" - The Hollywood Reporter, Esq., February 20-26, 2007
• "Insider Novels Push the Envelope" - USA Today, April 9, 2007

Super Lawyer - 2006

• "Is Your Stuff Yours? The Answer Isn't So Simple" - Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2005
• "Perspective: 'Takings Clause' at Issue," New York Law Journal, February 23, 2005
• "He Globetrots to Fight Oppression, The New York Newsday Interview with Martin Garbus, New York Newsday, January 3, 2004
• "Martin Garbus, Defender of the Damned, by Betsy L. Freund, The Guardian (London), February 5, 2004
• 'Garbus, Martin, by [C.L.], Washington Post, September 12, 2003
• "Martin Garbus, Author of 'Courting Disaster,' on the Estrada Nomination, a Buzzflash Interview, Buzzflash.com, March 15, 2003
• "A Veteran Liberal Trial Lawyer's View of the High Court, A Review of Attorney Martin Garbus' Courting Disaster, WritNews FindLaw's Book Review, November 15, 2002
• "Courting Disaster, Lawyer's Bookshelf, New York Law Journal, September 12, 2002
• "Dismantling the Law, by Robert H. Bork, The New Criterion. Vol. 21, No.3, November 2002
• "From Our Editors/From the Publisher/From the Critics, Comments listed with listing on Barnes & Noble website for Courting Disaster: The Supreme Court and the Unmaking of American Law, Pub. Date September 2002
• "The Lawyer and the 'Rape Hoax,' by Nat Hentoff, Washington Post, May 13, 2002
• "Is the High Court Too High and Mighty?, Review of Courting Disaster and the Unmaking of American Law, Business Week, October 21, 2002
• "Down by Law: When Movie Moguls Wage War to Protect Copyright, the First Amendment Ends Up on the Cutting Room Floor, by Jeff Howe, Village Voice, May, 9, 2000
• "Hollywood vs. the Hacker, by Hillary Rosner, New York Magazine, October 23, 2000
• "Susan Sontag Gets Jumpy; Pat Conroy Gets Left Out, by Elizabeth Manus, New York Observer, January 17, 2000
• "The Press: Unreasonable Doubt, by M.A. Farber, Vanity Fair, October 1995
• "Bully for the Right Guys, by Playthell Benjamin, The Guardian (London), April 16, 1992
• "New York Courts Deal Blow to Claims of Libel in Fiction, New York Law Journal, May 7, 1991
• "Expletive Included, by Eric Alterman, Review of Tough Talk: How I Fought for Writers, Comics, Bigots, and the American Way, The New York Times, August 9, 1988
• "From the Publisher/From the Critics, Comments listed with listing on Barnes & Noble website, for Tough Talk, Pub. Date July 1988.
• "Tales of the First Amendment, a review of Tough Talk, by Seth Bloom, Miami Herald, October 1988
• "From the Critics, Comments listed with listing on Barnes & Noble website for Traitors and Heroes: A Lawyer's Memoir, Pub. Date June 1987
• "The Best Lawyers in New York, New York Magazine, March 20, 1995
• "Traitors & Heroes: A Lawyer's Memoir, Reviewed by William Blum, The Los Angeles Times, The Book Review, July 26, 1987

INTERNATIONAL WORK

Martin Garbus has worked for the governments of the former Soviet Union , Czechoslovakia , Poland , [[China, Canada and Hungary as a consultant on constitutional, media and communications law. Recently, the government of China hired Mr. Garbus to help address the problems posed by digital piracy. He represented dissidents Vaclav Havel , Nelson Mandela and Andrei Sakharov. In 2004, he was appointed advisor to the Chinese team responsible for the creation of China's intellectual property laws.

REVIEW OF BOOKS BY MARTIN GARBUS

• "The Next 25 Years: How the Supreme Court Will Make You Forget the Meaning of Words Like Privacy, Equality and Freedom

"Garbus cuts right to the heart of what's at stake, including rights to abortion, privacy and religion; states' sovereignty issues; tax reform and others. With crystal-clear reasoning, Garbus sounds a wake-up call for those suspicious of the current administration's long-term plans for the U.S. judiciary." - Publisher's Weekly. “An ardent defender of freedom, Martin Garbus reminds us that the Supreme Court directly affects the lives of all Americans. In the last half century, the Court has played a central role in the effort to make America a better and fairer land . . . . Garbus alerts us to what he sees as the current Court’s undoing of much of that important work.” – Senator Edward M. Kennedy “Mr. Garbus . . . argues that the ideological lock put on our federal court system in the past thirty years by the Republican right wing constitutes a clear and present danger to the basic legal and moral assumptions of a modern democratic republic. He lays out the evidence . . . and his case is sound. This work ought to be read by every voter in the country.” – E.L. Doctorow “Martin Garbus’ grasp of the importance of what is now happening to one of the greatest legal institutions in the world – the Supreme Court – is brilliantly demonstrated in this analysis. Martin is recognized internationally as one of the great legal constitutional voices of the US. He knows from raw experience why an independent Supreme Court is a crucial check on the Executive and is fundamental to liberty. He has inspired lawyers around the world and helped us develop our own antennae for threats to human rights.” - Lady Helena Kennedy, member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament and author of Just Law: The Changing Face of Justice and Why it Matters

• "Courting Disaster: The Supreme Court and the Unmaking of America Law (Times Books, New York, 2002; Times Books softcover, 2003). The Washington Post called it "a vigorous book, full of passion."

“Courting Disaster is like a firebell in the night. The Supreme Court has the power to shape the national future; and Martin Garbus’ lucid and perceptive analysis of cases and personalities tells us where the Court might go. No one will be able to say that we haven’t been warned.” - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. “In this important book, Martin Garbus tells the story of a torrent of right-wing judicial activism and what it means for the average American. This is a compelling portrait of judicial hubris and a revolution gone wrong.” - Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment, Yale Law School “Mr. Garbus’s brilliant book argues that the ideological lock put on our federal court system in the past thirty years by the Republic right wing constitutes a clear and present danger to the basic legal and moral assumptions of a modern democratic republic. He lays out the evidence, all the way up to the Supreme Court, and his case is sound. This work ought to be read by every voter in the country.” - E.L. Doctorow “Martin Garbus has written a forceful, highly readable assault on the current Court that some readers will find fascinating, others infuriating, but none boring.” - Tinsley Yarbrough, Author of The Rehnquist Court and the Constitution “Martin Garbus is one of America’s most renowned defenders of the First Amendment. Courting Disaster, his lucid and spirited critique of the conservative judiciary of our time, is a powerful argument for the dangers that the judicial activism of the present Supreme Court poses to civil liberties.” - Alan Brinkley, Allan Nevins Professor of History, Columbia University

• "Tough Talk: How I Fought For Writers, Comics, Bigots, and the American Way, introduction by David Halberstam (Random House-Times Books, 1998, Times Books softcover, 1999)

“Martin Garbus reminds us why the First Amendment comes first in the Bill of Rights. This powerful book retells what our founding fathers understood – that freedom cannot survive by silencing dissent. A free marketplace of ideas is the indispensable condition of a thriving democracy.” - Senator Ted Kennedy “Martin Garbus has written a kind of First Amendment war journal, with free speech the turf, the treasure and the prize. It’s filled with courtroom gladiators, villains, and surprises about good guys and bad guys, and how they change history.” - Diane Sawyer, ABC News “If anyone – journalist or otherwise – has any doubts, qualms, or second thoughts about everyone’s right to speak his mind, get them to read this book. - Morley Safer, 60 Minutes “A memoir so engaging that one wishes it were longer.” - Kirkus Reviews

• "Traitors and Heroes (Athenaeum, 1987; Random House softcover, 1988) "A forthright, impassioned, informative and chilling memoir" by the New York Times ; it describes Mr. Garbus's legal work in the Soviet Union, Chile and South Africa. The New York Times designated it a notable book and called it "A forthright, impassioned, informative and chilling memoir." The Los Angeles Times named it a notable book, and their reviewer called it "a superb book."
• "Ready for the Defense (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1971; Avon softcover, 1972, and Carroll & Graf reprint, 1995)

Described by Herbert Mitgang in the New York Times as "a gripping account of five of Martin Garbus' dramatic trials all the suspense and excitement of first-rate courtroom dramas leav[ing] few emotions untapped.” The book was a New York Times Notable Book. "The way things are going, I may be the subject of prosecution. Assuming I am of sound mind, I hereby chose as attorney for my defense Martin Garbus. Garbus draws on experience as a trial lawyer in criminal defense, corporate litigation, estates and class action suits. His cases, recounted in this book, are Darrowesque." - Studs Terkel “Martin Garbus writes like he just had breakfast with Tom Paine and lunch with Madison. He is a lawyer who pushes the frontier of freedom forward by defending the damned in places where liberty doesn't exist. And then describing the experience with the clear, piercing logic of a post-1984 Orwell.” - Jack Newfield “We need more advocates of free speech like Martin Garbus.” - William Safire “Lawyers who care about human and civil rights more than property rights are few; lawyers who can write are fewer. Traitors and Heroes is a lawyer’s memoir, but one would hardly know that for it is also a humanist’s memoir, a writer’s memoir, an activist’s memoir. Martin Garbus is an artist of advocacy.” - Victor Navasky, Editor, The Nation

• "Traitors and Heroes provides searing examples of injustice done in the name of law, from South Africa to the Soviet Union

Martin Garbus experienced firsthand the emotions – the frustrations – of a lawyer in those appalling circumstances. He makes us share his feelings.” - Anthony Lewis

• "China Journal: China 1972-2008

Martin Garbus, reflecting on his time spent teaching copyright law in China, recounts the personal narratives of individual Chinese people in their struggles for justice. Court cases he examines involve free speech, dissent, copyright law, intellectual property, and most importantly, the rule of law. To be published in November 2008.

TELEVISION INTERVIEWS WITH MARTIN GARBUS

“60 Minutes,” “MacNeill Lehrer Report,” “Good Morning America,” “Good Day New York,” Tom Brokaw, Charlie Rose, Catherine Crier, Peter Jennings, Brian Wilson, Diane Sawyer, Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, Bill O’Reilly and others. Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

FILMS IN WHICH MR. GARBUS APPEARS

• “Pretty Woman,” directed by Garry Marshall
• “The Runaway Bride” directed by Garry Marshall
• “Dear God,” directed by Garry Marshall
• “The Ruling Class,” directed by Lewis Lapham
• “This Movie is Not Rated,” directed by Kirby Dick discussing the Motion Picture Association film code
• “Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth,” directed by Robert Weide
• “Frankie and Johnny, “ starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer
• "No Joking," a film directed by Bob Balaban (2004)

REFERENCES

• martingarbus.com
• biography at Davis & Gilbert
• biography at NNDB
• Amazon.com