Areas of Practice Concentration

• First Amendment and Communications Law
• Commercial Litigation
• Insurance Litigation
• Mediation

Education

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. 1965
• University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D. with Honors, 1968

Bar Admissions

• North Carolina, 1968

Court Admissions

• Eastern, Middle and Western U.S. District Courts, North Carolina
• U.S. Court of Military Appeals
• Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• U.S. Supreme Court

Professional Affiliations

• Wake County, North Carolina and American Bar Associations
• North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers
• Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference

Professional Certifications

• NCDRC Certified Mediator

Hugh Stevens is both a nationally known First Amendment and media lawyer and a versatile litigator. For more than 20 years Hugh served as general counsel to the North Carolina Press Association, which designated him as "counsel emeritus" upon his retirement in 2002. In 2003 the Association honored Hugh by selecting him to receive its W. C. Lassiter Award in recognition of his zealous defense of the First Amendment. In 2006 he became only the second lawyer elected to the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame.

Hugh continues to serve as counsel to the North Carolina Press Foundation, the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, and several North Carolina newspapers, including The News & Observer. He has represented numerous news organizations in cases involving libel, privacy and access to government records and proceedings, and was ABC News' North Carolina counsel in the landmark newsgathering case of Food Lion v. Capital Cities/ABC, et al.

Hugh's significant cases include two that dramatically affected the law of privacy in North Carolina - Renwick v. News and Observer Pub. Co., in which the North Carolina Supreme Court declined to recognize the "false light" tort, and Hall v. Post, in which the court rejected "private facts" claims. More recently he was lead counsel for the plaintiff in Womack Newspapers, Inc. v. Town of Kitty Hawk, et al., 181 N.C. App. 1 (2007), in which a weekly newspaper obtained the largest attorney fee award ever paid pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Law.

Hugh also is a versatile and experienced teacher. From 1985 through 2002 he taught a course entitled "Free Press and Public Policy" at Duke University's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, and in the spring of 2008 he taught First Amendment Law as a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law. He also has taught media law at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and he lectures frequently at continuing legal education programs.

In the early 1990's Hugh conceived the idea for a North Carolina Media Law Handbook and persuaded the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to provide the seed money for it. Since 1992 he has served as co-editor and author of the "Privacy" chapter for the Handbook, which currently is in its fourth edition. He also is the author of numerous book reviews, law review articles, Continuing Legal Education manuscripts and other publications. Currently he is working on a book tentatively entitiled Forty-Five Words: The Story of the First Amendment.

Hugh traces his interest in First Amendment law to his experience as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, where he served as co-editor of The Daily Tar Heel and joined other students leaders in fighting to overturn North Carolina's notorious "speaker ban" law, which forbade left-wing activists and leaders of Communist governments from appearing on university campuses. After completing law school at UNC in 1968, he served four years on active duty as a U.S. Navy JAG officer, during which he honed his trial skills in numerous courts-martial.

In addition to his media law practice, Hugh has extensive experience in commercial and insurance-related litigation. He has tried federal cases involving subjects as diverse as facultative reinsurance; an international airline's website; fire truck trademarks; insurance broker negligence; ERISA; lawyer advertising; and insurance and reinsurance for space satellites and launch vehicles. His recent state court cases include American Treasures v. State of North Carolina, in which he successfully defended a phone card vendor accused of violating North Carolina's anti-lottery law.

Hugh's community involvement includes serving as a director of Community Workforce Solutions, a not-for-profit agency that provides training and employment for physically and mentally impaired persons, and of the Episcopal Housing Ministry, which develops and manages apartments and social programs for low-income residents. His service to the profession focuses on the Constitutional Rights Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, of which he is a founding member and past chair. His service to his alma mater includes membership in the Chancellor's Club and on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Library.

Hugh and his wife, Marilyn, have three children and three grandchildren. His hobbies are golf, reading, cooking and watching Boston Red Sox baseball.

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