Attention all bloggers and news sites. The Citizen Media Law Project is launching a new program, Online Media Legal Network (OMLN), that will provide free legal help to small news sites and bloggers.

OMLN aims to assist Web publishers with a broad array of legal issues, ranging from intellectual property matters to defamation lawsuits, as well as business matters.

They already have a list of participating law firms as well as law school clinics. The law firms include Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Holland & Knight LLP, King & Spalding LLP, as well as Winston & Strawn LLP. Participating law school include clinics from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Harvard Law School, and Fordham Law School.

The Citizen Media Law Project is jointly affiliated with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Arizona State University’s Center for Citizen Media; the Knight Foundation is funding the new initiative.

The new program is designed for independent journalists who write about matters of public interest. For-profit ventures can qualify, as can individuals, but the program has income and revenue restrictions. Single individuals must earn less than $45,000 to qualify, and for-profit organizations must have annual gross revenues of no more than $100,000. Nonprofits must have annual operating budgets of no more than $250,000.

For more information or to see if you qualify, go to OMLN’s FAQ page here.

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Tags: bloggers, blogging, free legal services, news sites, pro bono legal services