Laura Lee Prather
Board of Directors, Public Participation Project
Partner, Haynes and Boone, LLP
Laura Lee Prather is a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP. She focuses her practice on First Amendment privacy and intellectual property counseling and litigation arising out of both traditional and online media contexts.
Ms. Prather is also an advocate and lobbyist for open government and First Amendment concerns at the Texas Legislature. She was the lead author and negotiator for the two most significant pieces of First Amendment legislation in recent history in Texas – the reporters’ privilege and the anti-SLAPP statute. Ms. Prather formed and led the coalition for the anti-SLAPP bill, House Bill 2973, in the State of Texas this last session. This bill was passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate and was signed by the Governor of Texas on June 17, 2011, taking effect immediately.
Ms. Prather recently published a law review article on SLAPPs in Texas and runs a blog on SLAPPs in Texas.
PPP Board Member Laura Prather recently published a piece for Lexology about the need for federal anti-SLAPP legislation:
“Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (otherwise known as “SLAPP” suits) are more prevalent than ever given the ease of communication and multitude of platforms available for getting messages out. They are gaining even more notoriety in the presidential election since candidate Donald Trump vowed to “open up” the current libel laws to further protect him from facing public criticism.