Ian Kalish joins Reporters Committee as University of Virginia First Amendment Clinic legal fellow

In September, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press welcomed Ian Kalish as a legal fellow at the University of Virginia’s First Amendment Clinic, where he will spend the next two years helping grow the Clinic’s work in First Amendment and media law cases.

In his new role, Ian will also teach the Clinic’s students about First Amendment issues — including defamation, campus speech and public records access — and supervise students as they participate in all aspects of state and federal litigation.

“I’m looking forward to further developing my skills as a teacher and mentor because that’s really something that I’d like to continue doing in my career,” Ian said.

Ian will play an important role in helping research, develop and manage cases for the First Amendment Clinic, which re-launched in the fall of 2019 as a partnership between the University of Virginia School of Law and the Reporters Committee. He will work closely with Reporters Committee attorneys Jennifer Nelson and Gabe Rottman to help the Clinic promote free expression and the free press.

Before joining the Reporters Committee, Ian worked at the Duke University Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, where he first discovered he had a passion for working with students.

He recalled how he and his colleagues helped two students prepare for oral arguments in federal court shortly after starting his position at Duke.

“To see them get up in court and successfully argue the motions was really rewarding,” Ian said. “I honestly felt that they couldn’t have done a better job.”

Ian loves teaching because it offers him the chance to share his learning experiences with law students.

“It’s important for me to give back what I was given and prepare people to excel,” he said.

Prior to joining the First Amendment clinics, Ian worked as a litigation associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York. Ian received his bachelor’s degree in history from Washington University, in St. Louis. He also holds a master’s degree from the Pratt Institute.

The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our monthly newsletter and following us on Twitter or Instagram.