Mara Gassmann is a senior attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press where she oversees the organization’s amicus curiae program. In that role, she manages the organization’s participation as amicus in state and federal courts throughout the country, and on a range of issues impacting newsgathering and other press freedom issues.

Prior to joining the Reporters Committee, Mara practiced law at Ballard Spahr LLP, where she litigated on behalf of news media, filmmakers, and non-profit organizations to protect their First Amendment and intellectual property rights. She also provided pre-publication review and newsroom counseling to journalist and non-profit clients.

Before entering private practice, Mara served as a law clerk to the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Mara is a co-author of “Anonymous Online Speech,” published by the Practising Law Institute (PLI) in Communications Law in the Digital Age (2015-2022), and of the chapter, “The Reality of Contemporary Libel Litigation,” in New York Times v. Sullivan: The Case for Preserving an Essential Precedent (2022), published by the Media Law Resource Center. She has also co-authored testimony for congressional subcommittee hearings on First Amendment-related topics.

Mara is a regular speaker on issues involving the legal rights of journalists. She has taught media law as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University and at American University in Washington, D.C.; spoken about U.S. free expression law to legal and non-legal audience in forums both inside and outside the United States; and delivered media law trainings to reporters.

A longtime member of the National Press Club, she is serving her second term as a member of the board of directors of the National Press Club Journalism Institute.

Mara graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. Before beginning her legal career, she was a spokesperson for CNN in its Washington, D.C., bureau. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.