Doug is a member of the firm’s Entertainment and Media Group and the leader of the firm's Advertising and Marketing Law Practice, recognized by U.S. News & World Reports as the 2018 Law Firm of the Year for Advertising Law.
He has more than 40 years' experience representing the entertainment and media industries, including individuals and multinational companies in motion picture, publishing, advertising, marketing, promotions, unfair competition, intellectual property, and e-commerce matters. Doug serves as legal advisor to several worldwide trade organizations and is General Counsel to the Association of National Advertisers, the Mobile Marketing Association, the Advertising Research Foundation, and the Advertising Council. In addition, Doug is the founder and emeritus member of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA), an international network composed of independent law firms that have expertise in advertising and marketing law with members in more than 80 countries.
Doug led the advertising industry’s legal team in the transformative media transparency investigation in 2016 and establishment of the industry standard contract template. In the dozens of media buying contracts he and the Reed Smith team have negotiated, his focus and knowledge of transparency issues make him and the firm the industry’s leading experts on the topic. Doug also has considerable experience in intellectual property issues that arise in connection with marketing brands, including false and deceptive advertising, copyright and trademark licensing and infringement, and the growing global concerns relating to privacy and data security under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Doug is an adjunct professor of advertising law at the University of New Hampshire School of Law and the University College Cork in Ireland.
He is the author of six books: Please be AdVised: A Legal Reference Guide for the Advertising Executive, a trade book described by a leading advertising executive as the “bible of the industry"; 101 Things I Want to Say … The Collection, a book of parental advice; Presidential Intentions, Presidential Declarations, and Presidential Conclusions, a trilogy of novels of historical fiction; and a memoir entitled Asshole Attorney: Musings, Memories and Missteps in a Forty-Year Career.
According to The Legal 500 directory, Doug is described by his clients as smart, direct, efficient, and great to deal with.
