Joseph Van Eaton
Mr. Van Eaton specializes in representing municipalities and nonprofit groups on a broad range of communications and antitrust-related matters. He has worked with communities on cable franchise renewals, advised communities as to the effect of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 on local authority to regulate rates and to enforce franchise provisions, and aided communities in conducting cable operator performance evaluations. His work has involved representation of communities in cases involving First Amendment and antitrust challenges to local franchising authorities. He filed one of the first post-Cable Act petitions which resulted in a community reregulating basic cable service rates, and has also provided advice to a number of communities investigating the feasibility of municipal ownership of cable television systems. He represented a telecommunications consumer group in a case which secured millions of dollars in refunds for customers of AT&T. He has served as a special appointee to the board of directors of the Alliance for Community Media. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia; the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Eleventh, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court. He received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in 1975 from Syracuse University. He is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers & Advisors and the International Municipal Lawyers Association. He is author of an article titled "Old Franchises Never Die? Denying Renewal under the First Amendment and the Cable Act," Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 6 No. 1, (1987)
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