MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Law Works, the West Virginia PBS series on legal issues that affect daily life in West Virginia, looks at the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) an the impact a recent West Virginia Supreme Court ruling might have on the use of FOIA.
Freedom of information acts, were enacted for the purpose of providing information about the workings of government and the acts of public officials and employees. So how’s that working out?
Host Dan Ringer talks with guests Professor Patrick C. McGinley of the WVU College of Law and Don Smith, executive director of the West Virginia Press Association, about freedom of information on this episode of The Law Works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLByKN9ClVE
McGinley is an attorney and the Judge Charles H. Haden II Professor of LawWest Virginia University College of Law.
Smith represents the state’s newspaper industry and works 25 years as general manager, editor and reporter at newspapers around the state.
See other episodes of The Law Works at http://wvpublic.org/programs/law-works
Ringer is a past-president of the West Virginia State Bar, has taught and lectured concerning legal matters at the college and university level since 1976, and is a member of the graduate faculty of the West Virginia University College of Human Resources and Education.
In 1996 Ringer was named the first West Virginia Lawyer Citizen of the Year by the West Virginia Bar Foundation, and served as president of the West Virginia State Bar in 1999-2000. In 2000 Ringer was named the American Bar Association Practitioner of the Year, by the ABA’s Solo and Small Firm Practice Committee. In 2001 he received the President’s Award from the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.
