ProPublica announced today that Jeremy Kutner is joining its staff as deputy general counsel. He starts on July 30 and will provide day-to-day legal support for the organization’s full range of activities, with emphasis on legal services to its newsroom.

Kutner comes to ProPublica from the Ballard Spahr firm, where he litigated cases involving libel, freedom of information laws, subpoenas seeking testimony from reporters about sources, and access to sealed documents. Recently, while at Ballard Spahr, he worked on secondment to NBCUniversal.

Previously, Kutner was a First Amendment Fellow at The New York Times and earlier participated in Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic. Kutner has also worked as a freelance journalist, with his writing appearing in outlets including the Times, HuffPost and the Christian Science Monitor.

“Jeremy’s strong litigation experience, along with his deep commitment to the value of a free and inquisitive press in democratic governance, will be tremendous assets to the ProPublica team,” said ProPublica President Richard Tofel, to whom Kutner will report. “We’re delighted to welcome him.”

“ProPublica's commitment to passionate storytelling and the highest ideals of journalism is more important now than ever before,” said Kutner. “I am thrilled to be joining such a talented and dedicated team.”