In conjunction with the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), Tucker Ellis attorneys Christine Snyder and Adrienne Kirshner offered free legal assistance to student journalists covering the Republican National Convention, held July 18-21 in Cleveland. Both attorneys were on call 24/7 to help students with emergencies, such as being taken into custody or having their equipment confiscated.

Frank LoMonte, SPLC executive director, said the tone of this year’s campaign causes the organization to be “especially concerned about the safety of journalists at the conventions, in particular when they are assigned to cover protests where crowd control is an issue. Because of the volatility of such events, the SPLC believes it’s important for student journalists to have on-call representation to help get any who are mistakenly detained released from custody and recover any equipment that is impounded. We hope no one ever has to use this hotline service, but we think it will be reassuring for students to know it’s available.”

Read the SPLC press release here.