Regarded as one of the country’s leading civil litigators, Patrick Carome has extensive experience representing major media and entertainment companies, international organizations and other businesses in high stakes litigation in both trial and appellate courts. While much of his practice focuses on representation of major internet companies, he is a seasoned advocate and counselor across a broad range of subject matter and industries.
Mr. Carome is especially well known for his defense of social media and other online enterprises in cases raising First Amendment and other free speech issues. He is the nation’s preeminent advocate in litigation concerning Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the federal law that shields operators of online platforms from liability pertaining to publishing third-party content.
Mr. Carome’s record of success on such cases over the past two decades—ranging for his breakthrough victory in Zeran v. America Online to numerous recent wins for online platforms in federal and state courts throughout the United States—is unparalleled. Mr. Carome’s clients in this space include or have recently included Twitter, Facebook, Google, craigslist, Airbnb, Yahoo! and the Internet Association. Based largely on Mr. Carome’s recent work and achievements, U.S. News-Best Lawyers ranked WilmerHale “Law Firm of the Year – Litigation-First Amendment” in 2018.
Other areas of Mr. Carome’s substantive expertise for media companies include privacy, defamation, copyright, trademark and trade secrets. He also has deep experience representing news organizations, including to enforce press access rights. And he has litigated for and counseled numerous clients on issues relating to the Freedom of Information Act and state open records and open meeting laws.
Media and internet law are far from the only areas in which Mr. Carome practices. He has deep experience defending companies from civil claims under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, and is currently leading the representation of a leading pharmaceutical company in a large, complex suit under the ATA. He has represented several major International Organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Pan American Health Organization, in suits testing their immunities under federal law, treaties and other international law. He recently played a major role representing one of the main defendants in one of the largest and most complex federal antitrust class-action litigations in US history.