On July 3, 2019, after nearly three years of litigation, ECBAWM won a significant constitutional victory when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the unsealing of court records in Giuffre v. Maxwell. The firm appeared on behalf of Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, an intervenor in the case, and it successfully argued that the wholesale sealing of records by the district judge violated the First Amendment’s “presumption of openness” for judicial documents; the presumption, the court reaffirmed, is essential to ensuring transparency and public oversight of the courts.

ECBAWM’s application for unsealing was followed by related applications filed by The Miami Herald and another media outlet, both of which were also granted.

Professor Dershowitz was represented by Andrew G. Celli, Jr. and David Lebowitz.

“Dershowitz Wins Unsealing of Epstein-Related Defamation Case,” BigLawBusiness
“Appeals court orders unsealing of records in sex-tinged case,” AP