Jan Friedman Constantine

Jan Friedman Constantine had been of counsel to Constantine Cannon LLP since July 2005 and on January 1, 2007, became a partner of the firm. Ms. Constantine focuses on intellectual property and employment law, and has counseled clients in numerous areas including the First Amendment, copyright, advertising and marketing, and antitrust and trade regulation.

Ms. Constantine also currently serves as General Counsel for The Authors Guild, a nonprofit organization representing a membership of over 8,000 published authors and freelancers. In this capacity, she is responsible for overseeing The Authors Guild, et al v. Google, Inc., a class action lawsuit filed in September 2005

From April 1991 through June 2005, Ms. Constantine was employed by the News Corporation (“News Corp.”) as Senior Vice President, and as Executive Vice President and Senior Deputy General Counsel of its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, News America Incorporated. During her fourteen-year tenure at News Corp., Ms. Constantine was responsible for legal matters for U.S. operations encompassing litigation, intellectual property mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, antitrust and trade regulation, First Amendment, and employment and labor. She also supervised the in-house legal department and outside counsel in dealing with these matters.

In 2003, Ms. Constantine was appointed News Corp.’s Ethics Officer; she was a member of News Corp.’s Pension Committee from 1991 until 2005.

Ms. Constantine’s experience at News Corp. also included the following:

  • Ms. Constantine coordinated News Corp. projects worldwide, such as company-wide copyright audit, semiannual human resources, conference, periodic legal and public affairs meetings and technology strategy sessions.
  • Ms. Constantine participated in all aspects of the business as General Counsel to the News America Publishing and Marketing Groups. In this role, she was legal advisor to News Corp.’s U.S. companies, including the New York Post (daily newspaper), TV Guide and The Weekly Standard (weekly magazines), Harper Collins (book publisher), News America Marketing (in-store and coupon promotion business), and various technology companies.
  • Ms. Constantine also assisted in-house lawyers at Fox Television, Fox News Network, Harper Collins and TV Guide.
  • Ms. Constantine has had experience dealing with regulatory agencies (e.g., Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, State Tax Authorities, State Attorneys General, E.E.O.C.), as well as federal, state and local government officials.

From 1982 until 1991, Ms. Constantine served as Staff Attorney, and then Deputy General Counsel for Macmillan, Inc., a multinational conglomerate engaged in publishing, information services and electronic publishing and language instruction. At Macmillan, she managed the corporate legal department, supervising in-house attorneys and paralegals in substantive areas, including litigation, intellectual property, real estate and employment and labor law. She was also responsible for retaining and managing outside counsel.

Ms. Constantine served as an Assistant United States Attorney, Civil Division, in the Eastern District of New York from July 1977 to November 1982. She was appointed Deputy Chief of the Civil Division in April 1982. During her five-year tenure at the Eastern District, she handled a wide variety of civil and criminal litigation, including many trials and appellate arguments, and has experience with all aspects of federal procedure at the district and appellate court levels.

Ms. Constantine was an attorney with The Federal Trade Commission in its New York Regional Office (May 1975 to June 1977), and the Bureau of Consumer Protection in Washington, D.C., (September 1973 to May 1975), primarily responsible for trade regulation rulemaking proceedings, investigation of antitrust and consumer protection matters, legislative drafting, subpoena negotiations and compliance and enforcement activities.

Ms. Constantine has lectured extensively on various subjects relating to intellectual property, employment law, Sarbanes-Oxley and corporate governance. In 2006, she participated in numerous panel discussions on the Google litigation sponsored by the Copyright Office, Copyright Society, the Bar Association of the City of New York and the New York State Bar Association. In 2005, Ms. Constantine was a featured speaker at the International Bar Association in Prague. She has been a frequent participant in conferences organized by the Media Law Resource Center (“MLRC”), and is one of the organizers of the MLRC’s Sept. 2007 U.K. Conference.

Ms. Constantine is an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York, N.Y., teaching “Publishing and Internet Law,” Spring Semester 2007. She taught “Legal and Ethical Issues for Business Journalists” at Baruch College’s Graduate School of Business Journalism, New York, N.Y., in the Fall Semester 2002.

Ms. Constantine graduated from The National Law Center, George Washington University, in 1973, and Smith College in 1970. She is a member Emeritus of the Communications and Media Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (“ABCNY”) having been its Chair from 1998 to 2001. She is a member of the ABCNY, the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Ms. Constantine has served on several not-for-profit Boards, including the Feminist Press, Women’s eNews and Children For Children. In 2003, she received a “Femmy”in recognition for her service for the Feminist Press, and in 2005 was the recipient of the Children For Children’s “Champion for Children” award. In 1997, she was News Corp.’s designee for the YWCA’s Women Achievers awards.

Ms. Constantine has performed Cabaret at various venues in New York, and is one of 31 contributors to a collection of essays entitled Empty Nest, published by Hyperion Press in May 2007. She is a member of the City Bar Chorus, sponsored by the ABCNY, and the Congregation Rodeph Sholom Adult Choir.