A Legal Checklist for Writers
If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you should take special care that you’re not risking an invasion of privacy or defamation charge. by Amy Cook
1. Are you writing about real people?
2. Are they recognizable to readers?
3. Are you making disputable statements of fact?
4. Are you disclosing private, possibly embarrassing information?
5. Are the matters discussed of concern to the community at large (not just your family)?
6. Are you disclosing a crime? How recent?
7. Is the individual in question a private person (as opposed to a public figure)?
Want more legal advice? Consider:
Legal Issues Affecting Writers
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Amy Cook is an attorney who has focused on intellectual property and publishing law issues for more than 20 years. She is on the board of directors of Lawyers for the Creative Arts and serves as the Managing Editor of the Chicago Bar Association’s magazine, The Record. She is a frequent seminar leader, most often at Chicago’s Newberry Library and also has been a presenter at the University of Chicago’s Graham School of Continuing Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Depaul University, among others. Cook is proud to have a long association with Writer’s Digest magazine, having written numerous feature articles on legal issues affecting writers. Connect with Cook here.
