Brian Rogers

BRIAN MACLEOD ROGERS is a lawyer practicing media law and related litigation, with an emphasis on libel, privacy, copyright, freedom of expression and Internet-related issues. He represents writers, producers, newspapers, magazines, book publishers, broadcasters and electronic media. He maintains an active practice of pre-publication and pre-broadcast review for newspapers, magazines, book publishers, websites and documentary filmmakers.

He has appeared before all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. In particular, he has acted for media interventions in the following cases: Bangoura v. Washington Post (Ontario Court of Appeal 2005: jurisdiction in Internet libel), WIC Radio Ltd. v. Simpson (Supreme Court of Canada 2007/8: fair comment libel defence), Quan v. Cusson (Ontario Court of Appeal 2007; Supreme Court of Canada 2009: public interest libel defence), Grant v. Torstar (Supreme Court of Canada 2009: public interest libel defence); R. v. National Post (Supreme Court of Canada, 2009: journalists’ confidential sources). He also acted as counsel for The Hamilton Spectator reporter, Ken Peters, in successfully appealing a contempt finding for protecting a confidential source during a civil trial - St. Elizabeth Home Society v. Hamilton (Citation of Kenneth Peters) (Ontario Court of Appeal 2008).

He was founding President of Ad IDEM/Canadian Media Lawyers Association and continues as a director. He is an Adjunct Professor, Ryerson University School of Journalism, teaching media law to graduate students. He was the first Canadian member of the Defense Counsel Section, Media Law Resource Center, for which he co-authors annual surveys on Canadian libel and privacy laws and was Co-Chair of its International Media Law Committee (2008-13). He is co-author of Journalists and the Law: How to Get the Story without Getting Sued or Put in Jail (1985) and author of the Canadian chapter in the International Libel & Privacy Handbook published by Bloomberg (2013). He is a member of the Justice-Media Liaison Committee of the Attorney General of Ontario and served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on the Law of Defamation (1989-90) and the Attorney-General's Anti-SLAPP Panel (2010) that led to Ontario's first proposed anti-SLAPP legislation (Bill 83) in June 2013. He was Canadian legal representative, Inter-American Press Association (San Jose, Costa Rica (1998); Washington, D.C. (2002)). He is a graduate of Queen's University (Hons B.A.) and Faculty of Law, University of Toronto (LL.B.). He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1979.