The Cullen Law Firm PLLC files Amicus Brief on Behalf of a D.C. Bar Community to Support the First Amendment Rights of Clients and their Attorneys

WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 22, 2026 The Cullen Law Firm, PLLC, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on behalf of the Administrative Law and Agency Practice Community of the D.C. Bar.

The brief argued that the First Amendment protects individuals from being sued for the content of their speech when petitioning the government, and that this protection extends to their lawyers. Lawyers should not be held personally liable for the content of their clients’ speech in petitions to the government. This protection extends to speech that might be unpopular or arguably unlawful when spoken outside of petitioning the government. 

The case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was brought by a party who unsuccessfully applied to the Federal Communication Commission (F.C.C.) for television broadcast licenses. That party then sued the F.C.C. and various parties and their lawyers individually who submitted information and comments to the F.C.C. in opposition to the license application. The District Court dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint, then the Plaintiff appealed to the D.C. Circuit.

As the brief details: “The Administrative Law and Agency Practice Community is concerned about the negative effects on the practice of law should lawyers be held liable for the position of their clients. This would produce an irreconcilable conflict between the clients’ interests and a lawyer’s duties under the District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct, which require zealous advocacy and the absence of conflict with their clients’ interests… the precedent would be detrimental to legal advocacy, clients’ right to representation, and lawyer-client relationships.”

The appeal is titled SGCI Holdings III LLC, et al., v. Federal Communications Commission, et al., Case number 25-5339.  Read the full amicus brief here.