First Amendment Litigators Leita Walker, Emmy Parsons Honored by National Press Photographers Association

First Amendment litigators Leita Walker and Emmy Parsons have been recognized by the National Press Photographers Association for safeguarding and furthering the interests of journalists during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd.

Ms. Walker and Ms. Parsons received the Alicia Calzada First Amendment Award for “tirelessly work[ing] to promote and advance the First Amendment by protecting and defending journalists—particularly visual journalists—in Minnesota covering the racial justice protests and granting access to audio-visual coverage of the Derek Chauvin trial.” The award, named for NPPA past president Alicia Wagner Calzada, is given to individuals who have worked to promote and advance the First Amendment, especially as it relates to news photographers.

Minneapolis-based Ms. Walker and Washington, D.C.-based Ms. Parsons are members of Ballard Spahr’s nationally renowned Media and Entertainment Law Group, which Best Law Firms named Law Firm of the Year for First Amendment Litigation in 2018, 2020, and 2022, and Law Firm of the Year for Media Law in 2018 and 2019.

Earlier this month, Ms. Walker received the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information’s John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award for the same body of work.

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