Michael J. Lambert is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group in Haynes and Boone's Austin office. He focuses on media, entertainment, intellectual property, and First Amendment litigation. He also counsels clients on pre-publication review, privacy, access, and newsgathering matters.

Before joining Haynes and Boone, Michael provided libel, newsgathering, and copyright advice to media clients and performed pre-publication review for national magazines at a Boston law firm. He also litigated libel and public records cases. Prior to that, he reviewed scripts and videos and contributed to litigation for the NBCUniversal News Group in New York City. Upon graduating law school, he served as the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Legal Fellow for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where he drafted amicus briefs in important press freedom cases in federal and state appellate courts.

Michael's experiences extend to internet and social media law. He has interned at Harvard Law School's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and authored chapters on social media and copyright law for Internet Law: The Complete Guide.

His client relationships are shaped by his journalism background as a graduate of the Louisiana State University Manship School of Mass Communication and years working as a reporter.

A passionate advocate for speech and press freedoms, Michael is active in the media law bar. He serves as the Co-Chair of the Internet, Publicity, and Social Media Committee of the American Bar Association's Forum on Communications Law. He has written extensively on a variety of media law topics, provided client trainings, and guest lectured college journalism classes. Outside of law, Michael is proud to have run the 2020 Boston Marathon and raise over $20,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Bar Admissions
Louisiana

District of Columbia

New York

Massachusetts

Texas

Education

Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Law, 2015, J.D.

Louisiana State University, Undergraduate, 2012, B.A., Mass Communication

Significant Accomplishments
Paramount Rare Coin & Currency, LLC v. John O’Leary, Cause No. 63056 in the 88th Judicial District Court of Hardin County, Texas. o A coin company sued our client, John O’Leary, for defamation and business disparagement after he wrote an online review expressing his views about the company’s sales tactics. We informed the company that Mr. O’Leary’s statements were protected under the First Amendment and that we were planning to file a motion to dismiss under the Texas Citizens Participation Act. After learning that it would be responsible for attorney’s fees for attempting to prevent our client from opining about a matter of public concern, the company dismissed the lawsuit.
Nunes v. NBCUniversal, Case No. 21-cv-00608 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division. We represented NBCUniversal in a defamation case over statements made on The Rachel Maddow Show and successfully argued for the denial of jurisdictional discovery in Texas and for the Eastern District of Texas to transfer the case to the Southern District of New York, where NBCUniversal is located.
Clopper v. The Harvard Crimson, No. 20-cv-11363 (D. Mass. Nov. 5, 2020), aff'd. 20-2140 (1st Cir. August 1, 2022)
Gatehouse Media v. City of Worcester, No. 1885CV1526A (Mass. Super. Ct. June 2, 2021)