S. Douglas Dodd, who spent 14 years in radio and television journalism prior to his graduation from law school, concentrates his practice on media and communications law, with an emphasis on First Amendment and defamation issues. He has represented both national and local media companies since 1984. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Dodd was lead counsel for Harper’s Magazine in the case of Showler v. Harper’s Magazine Foundation and Peter Turnley, winning in the Federal District Court, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Dodd has lectured to both attorneys and journalists on open meetings and open records issues and to legal administrators on social networking issues. He is actively involved in the Media Law Resource Center's Defense Counsel Section. For three years, he served as co-chair of the MLRC’s national Pre-Publication/Pre-Broadcast Review Committee. He is a contributing author of the Media Law Resource Center's Annual Survey of Oklahoma Media Privacy and Related Law.
Mr. Dodd has served as Chairman of the Oklahoma Bar Association Bar-Media Relations and Communications Committees and is a member of the American Bar Association's Forum on Communications Law and Media, Privacy and Defamation Law Committee.
Mr. Dodd graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in Speech: Radio & Television, and subsequently obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1981. He served as a Missile Launch Control Officer in the United States Air Force, Strategic Air Command.
Following graduation from law school, Mr. Dodd served as a law clerk to the Honorable James O. Ellison, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Mr. Dodd is also actively engaged in several national and community organizations. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the American Diabetes Association, Inc., and served on the Tulsa School Board from 1990-2001. He serves on the Boards of the Foundation for Tulsa Schools, The University of Tulsa College of Law Alumni Association, Citizen CPR, The Critical Link, and the Tulsa Central High School Foundation.
Mr. Dodd is an ordained Elder at Southminster Presbyterian Church. He has been a candidate for Oklahoma's First District Congressional seat.
