Jeffrey J. Pyle

Partner

O 617-456-8143 F 617-456-8100 jpyle@princelobel.com

Practice Areas

Industries

Jeffrey J. Pyle is a trial lawyer who represents clients in a wide variety of cases, including First Amendment litigation, multimillion dollar business disputes, libel claims, criminal cases, and civil rights matters. Jeff has argued appeals in both state and federal courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Jeff is the practice group leader for Prince Lobel’s Media, Publishing and First Amendment Law team. As part of his practice, Jeff represents newspapers, magazines, and investigative journalism organizations in cases involving alleged defamation, access to government documents, subpoenas to identify sources, and sealed court records. He also provides prepublication review services to media companies, advising them on how to avoid liability in reporting the news.

In 2016, Jeff argued an important appeal to the First Circuit on behalf of an online publisher, obtaining dismissal of civil claims pursuant to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. In 2015, Jeff and Prince Lobel partner Joseph D. Steinfield successfully represented the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority at the First Circuit in a challenge to the MBTA’s rejection of certain advertisements. In 2012, Jeff obtained a favorable ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of a business seeking access to sealed affidavits that had been filed in support of a search warrant. In 2007, he and Joe Steinfield tried a lengthy First Amendment case on behalf of a businessman against officials of the Puerto Rico Department of Insurance, securing a $5 million verdict that was upheld by the First Circuit.

In 2016, Jeff and Prince Lobel partner Hugh Gorman III were recognized as Lawyers of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly for their representation of Federal Concrete, a woman-owned concrete company. On Federal’s behalf, Jeff and Hugh brought a constitutional and statutory challenge to the Commonwealth’s practice of permitting non-disadvantaged individuals to participate in a construction set-aside program for female- and minority-owned firms. As a result of a preliminary injunction they obtained, disadvantaged construction companies were given new opportunities to compete for government contracts.

Jeff frequently represents journalists seeking access to public records and court filings. For example, in 2019, Jeff successfully represented a public radio station in its efforts to unseal a list of the names and addresses of jurors after the completion of a criminal trial, obtaining in a favorable ruling at the First Circuit. The same year, he represented a coalition of news organizations in bringing a successful motion to unseal a complaint alleging that a pharmaceutical company’s actions contributed to the opioid crisis. Jeff also helps reporters negotiate for access and appeal from the denial of requests under the Massachusetts public records law.

Jeff has handled many cases under the Massachusetts Anti-SLAPP law, which protects citizens and writers against lawsuits aimed at intimidating their exercise of the right to petition the government. In 2012, working as a cooperating attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts, he secured dismissal of a defamation claim brought by the owner of a racetrack against a critic of expanded casino gaming, in the first known application of the Massachusetts Anti-SLAPP law to a social media post.

Jeff is an adjunct professor of law at Boston College Law School, where he teaches a seminar called Media Law and Litigation. Jeff graduated magna cum laude from BC Law in 2000, and went on to serve as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael A. Ponsor in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He joined Hill & Barlow as an attorney in 2001, and in 2003, moved with several other attorneys to Prince Lobel.

September 9, 2021: Quoted in Law360, ‘Varsity Blues Judge Seals Jury Selections, Stoking Criticism”
August 27, 2021: Quoted in a WBUR story, “WBUR Sues Boston Police for Withholding Misconduct Records, Latest Suit Against City”
July 7, 2021: Quoted in The Washington Post Opinion Piece: “Justice Gorsuch is Concerned about Internet Disinformation. But His Solution is Backwards.”
June 10, 2021: Quoted in the Portland Press Herald, “Newspapers Push for Immediate Electronic Access to New Civil Court Filings”
June 5, 2020: Featured in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly “Sidebar Conversation” interview on President Trump’s executive order regarding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
June 6, 2020: Quoted in The Washington Post article titled, “Stop Whining Alan Dershowitz,” regarding defamation lawsuit filed by famed law professor.
May 28, 2020: Quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in article titled “Officer Shot by Convicted Felon Can’t Sue Online Gun Exchange”
April 9, 2020: Quoted in Penobscot Bay Press article titled “COVID-19: Why we are told what we’re told”
April 3, 2020: Quoted in Newton Tab regarding release of information concerning community spread of COVID-19.
April 1, 2020: Quoted in Cape Cod Times regarding release of COVID-19 information: “I fail to see how listing numbers on a town-by-town basis compromises individual privacy,” “There’s no legal concept of identifiability that would justify deeming a person identifiable merely by listing his or her town, with no other information.”
April 2020: Prince Lobel Client Alert, “Mass High Court Orders Disclosure of Police Incident Reports and Prosecution Data”
April 2020: Prince Lobel Commentary/ Public Resource: “Can the New England News Media Attend ‘Virtual’ Court Hearings?”
April 13, 2020: Quoted in NENPA, “Partner at Prince Lobel has put together a crowdsourced guide to access in the COVID-19 pandemic.”
April 9, 2020: Quoted in Penobscot Bay Press, “The law does worry about stigmatizing people with diseases people are afraid of,”
April 3, 2020: Quoted in Newton Wicked Local News, “All confidential personally identifying information … shall be protected by persons with knowledge of this information. Except when necessary for the Commonwealth’s or local jurisdiction’s disease investigation, control, treatment and prevention purposes,” “I construe this regulation to provide that local city or town boards of health may release personally identifying information when necessary to prevent the spread of the disease,” “Whether it’s ever ‘necessary’ is a question I would leave to the public health experts.”
April 1, 2020: Quoted in Cape Cod Times, “I fail to see how listing numbers on a town-by-town basis compromises individual privacy,” “There’s no legal concept of identifiability that would justify deeming a person identifiable merely by listing his or her town, with no other information.”
March 28, 2020: Quoted in The Enterprise, previously called the Department of Public Health’s use of the exemption “mystifying” and “a real abuse of that exemption.” He’s said the department should have to release the cities and towns of victims.
March 5, 2020: Quoted in The Washington Post, “Trump Campaign Lawsuits against NYT, WaPo Present a Juicy Opportunity”
February 7, 2020: Quoted in The Enterprise, “DPH Won’t Say Where EEE Victims Live. An Expert Calls that Mystifying Abuse of the Records Law”
February 2, 2020: Quoted in The Boston Globe, “More Sunshine, Not Less, Needed with Massachusetts Public Records”
January 31, 2020: Quoted in The Boston Globe, “In ‘Drastic’ Change, Baker Wants Birth, Death Records Secret in Most Cases”
January 22, 2020: Quoted on abcnews.go.com, “Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton”
January 17, 2020: Quoted in The Berkshire Eagle, “DA’s Office Whistleblower Resigns Over Public Records Issues, ‘Campaign Culture'”
January 11, 2010: Quoted in The New York Times, “Professor Fired After Joking That Iran Should Pick U.S. Sites to Bomb”
January 2, 2020: Quoted in The Boston Globe, “SJC Rules in Favor of UMass Student Newspaper Editor in Defamation Case”
September 2019: Prince Lobel Client Alert, “Massachusetts high Court Requires Recording of Show Cause Hearings, Creating New Opportunities for Public Access”
June 2019: Prince Lobel Client Alert, “On Privacy Exemption, Massachusetts High Court Giveth and Taketh Away”
May 2019: Quoted in The New Bedford Standard Times on a public records request pertaining to the identity of a police officer involved in the involuntary discharge of a gun in a diner
April 2019: Quoted in the Hampshire Gazette on a First Amendment victory relating to a lawn-sign ban in Holyoke, Mass.
March 2019: Quoted in The Gardner News about a delay in the town’s posting of city council meeting minutes
January 2019: Quoted by Reuters about the overturned public records ruling concerning the names of jurors involved in the prosecution of Glen Chin, a pharmacist charged with racketeering in conjunction with a nationwide meningitis outbreak
January 2019, Quoted in a MassLive.com article about the Mass. State Police’s refusal to grant a request to release the public records of their union representatives
August 2017: “Frederick Clay’s ordeal underscores the hazards of excessive police secrecy,” Media Nation
May 2017: “Cardno Chemrisk v. Foytlin: Supreme Judicial Court Holds that Anti-SLAPP Law Protects Opinion Writing,” Boston Bar Journal
October 2015: “The Unwarranted Secrecy of Criminal Justice Information in Massachusetts,” Boston Bar Journal

Education

Boston College Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 2000
Trinity College, B.A., 1997

Bar Admissions

Massachusetts
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

Memberships & Affiliations

American Bar Association
Boston Bar Association

News & Events

IN THE PRESS

Partner Jeff Pyle Quoted in Washington Post on “Scary” Defamation Ruling

September 17, 2021

Jeff Pyle was quoted in the Washington Post about a recent ruling in a defamation…

Firm News

Firm Client Telegram & Gazette Newspaper Prevails in Public Records Case

June 17, 2021

The City of Worcester violated the Massachusetts Public Records Law when it refused to provide…

IN THE PRESS

In the Press: Partner Jeff Pyle on Access to Electronic Court Records, Portland Press Herald

June 10, 2021

Partner Jeff Pyle was quoted in the Portland Press Herald on June 9 in an…

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