Lawrence G. Walters, Managing Partner

Lawrence G. Walters heads up the Walters Law Group, a boutique law firm concentrating in First Amendment, Internet, Intellectual Property and Gaming law.  Mr. Walters has developed a noteworthy reputation for representing the interests of the online entertainment community, as well as other more traditional industries.  He has practiced law for 22 years, and is recognized as a national expert on legal issues pertaining to Free Speech and the Internet.  He frequently contributes to television news programs on networks such as NBC, ABC, PBS, BBC, CBC, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, and CNN. His high profile cases are often followed by the print and online media, having been covered in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired Magazine, Business 2.0, Playboy, ABA Journal, St. Petersburg Times, Orlando Sentinel, etc. A partial listing of his articles and publications can be found here. 

Mr. Walters began practicing law in Central Florida in 1988, after graduating from Florida State University, College of Law, with Honors. While in law school, he studied English common law at St. Edmunds Hall in Oxford University, and interned with a federal judge in the Northern District of Florida. During his career, Mr. Walters has served as a Law Studies professor at the University of Central Florida, and acted as a Director for the local Bar Association and the local Chamber of Commerce.  Among his many civic and community activities, he has served as Chair of the Legal Panel of the ACLU, Central Chapter, and currently participates on the advisory panels for the University of Central Florida’s Law Studies Department, and the Heifer.org charitable group.  Larry also acts as General Counsel to the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, which focuses on advancing the human right to sexual expression.  He has established and directed numerous non-profit associations and trade groups, including the Internet Freedom Association, the Jacksonville Property Rights Association and the Association of Coastal Property Owners.  His efforts in helping fight online child pornography earned him the Annual Service Recognition Award from the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, in January, 2005.  Mr. Walters has been recognized as one of the Top 100 News Makers by the media industry group, Xbiz, and was included in the top 10% in the ‘Best of the Bar’ competition, through a poll conducted by the Orlando Business Journal.  

Mr. Walters' First Amendment law practice dates back to the late '80s when he defended numerous “mom & pop” video stores in Florida against a government censorship campaign.  In 1997, he formed the Florida Bar's First Amendment Law Committee, which he chaired for over a decade. He represents hundreds of webmasters across the globe in connection with the regulation and protection of online content.  Mr. Walters regularly deals with issues relating to online advertising, Internet gaming, free speech concerns, domain name protection, mobile applications, and other cutting edge practice areas.  After 9 years in partnership with Weston, Garrou, Walters & Mooney, a national First Amendment firm, he established his current practice with the Walters Law Group.  The firm handles cases involving constitutional and commercial issues such as civil rights litigation, licensing and zoning suits, intellectual property claims, domain name disputes, appeals and complex criminal defense.  Larry often finds himself embroiled in precedent-setting cases in the fields of online gambling, adult entertainment, social networking and Internet pharmaceuticals.  He has initiated over 100 federal law suits, and defended over 30 criminal obscenity cases during his career, many of which involved racketeering charges.   The lawyers in the firm also handle transactional matters such as licensing agreements, sales contracts, online user terms, and acceptable use policies.

Mr. Walters is a frequent lecturer on Free Speech issues, and has presented seminars across the country on Internet law, Gaming law and the First Amendment. One of his speeches dealing with the First Amendment and Terrorism, was published in the Representative American Speeches of 2003, along with those of former President George W. Bush, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and Sen. Hillary Clinton. He regularly publishes articles of interest to webmasters on countless websites and magazines, including legal updates directed at specific industries.  His website, www.FirstAmendment.com, which has been in operation for over 12 years, receives over 1.5 million hits per month, and is recognized as a global resource for Internet and Constitutional law issues.  Larry operates several other websites including www.GameCensorship.com dealing with legal and legislative attempts to censor video games, and www.OnlineDatingLaw.com, which focuses on the legal issues impacting social networking sites.  His blog can be found at www.LawofSex.com.  Over the years, Mr. Walters has published several law review articles on Free Speech issues and Gaming law, along with a book chapter on the First Amendment protections of commercial speech.  His accolades in the legal field have earned him recognition as an honored member in the Who’s Who Registry of Outstanding Professionals, (2006-07 Edition.) 

In 2005, Mr. Walters was appointed to the Board of Officers of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, a prominent, nationwide group of First Amendment practitioners, and currently serves as the group’s National Chairman and immediate past President. He has earned a "BV" (very high) rating from Martindale Hubbell, the national rating service for lawyers, and “10.0 – Superb” by Avvo.com, the popular online attorney rating service.  Mr. Walters is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Florida, as well as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, and the U.S. Claims Court in Washington, D.C. In addition he has been admitted pro hac vice to courts across the country. 

You can request additional information regarding his qualifications and experience by emailing us: Larry@FirstAmendment.com .

Kevin W. Wimberly is an Associate with Walters Law Group, and provides representation primarily in the intellectual property area, including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and related litigation.  Mr. Wimberly’s practice also includes First Amendment litigation, gaming law, and related Internet issues.  A large amount of Mr. Wimberly’s Internet law practice includes counseling clients on the scope of protection and available immunity to service providers based on their customers’ and other third-party content.

Mr. Wimberly graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1997 with a B.A. degree in English.  To pursue his interest in computers and technology, he began working in computer and networking support.  His information technology experience includes working in the in-house legal department of a multi-national software development corporation as well as working in the information technology departments of two Florida law schools.  His prior career in Information Technology gave him valuable experience in computer networking and its underlying hardware and software infrastructure. After working full-time in IT for five years, he entered law school to further his knowledge regarding the integration of law and technology. While attending law school, he competed in the Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition on Trademarks in 2006 and 2007.  In 2006 his team placed 2nd Place Overall and received the 1st Place Best Oralists Award in the regional competition.  In 2007, Mr. Wimberly’s team again won 2nd Place Overall for the region. He also served as the Chief Justice of his law school’s Moot Court Honors Board.  He graduated cum laude from Barry University School of Law in 2008.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Wimberly practiced at a boutique intellectual property firm in Orlando, Florida.  There, his practice included filing trademark applications, initiating and defending trademark opposition/cancellation proceedings, and litigating trademark, trade dress, cybersquatting, and patent cases.  He was also instrumental in obtaining favorable settlements for clients in trade dress and patent infringement cases.

Mr. Wimberly has guest-lectured at Barry University School of Law on the topics of trademark dilution and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and in January of 2009 he co-presented on the topic of Design Patent Infringement in the wake of Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa, 543 F.3d 665 (Fed. Cir. 2008) at a seminar for the Orange County Bar Association Intellectual Property Committee.

Mr. Wimberly is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Middle and Northern Districts of Florida and all courts in the State of Florida.  He is also a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, the Florida Bar (Young Lawyers Division and Business Law Section), the American Bar Association (Intellectual Property Section), and the Orange County Bar Association (Intellectual Property Committee).

Mr. Wimberly may be reached at Kevin@firstamendment.com

Kimberly A. Harchuck is an Associate with Walters Law Group, and focuses on intellectual property matters, online agreements and First Amendment issues.

Ms. Harchuck received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Mount Union College in 2004.  While in college, Ms. Harchuck was chosen by the Political Science Chair as the Department’s teaching assistant.  During this time, she was also granted the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award by the American Mock Trial Association for her performance in the 2004 AMTA Championship Tournament. 

Ms. Harchuck graduated from Barry University School of Law in 2008.  While in law school, her dissertation on copyright law in the music industry, received one of the top grades in her Race & the Law class.  Excerpts from that writing, “The Theft of Black Music: A Look Into a Cultural Dynamic, Built or Destroyed by Our Nation’s Copyright Laws,” were later used by Scene Magazine in an article on the same topic.  Due to her skills in legal research and writing, Ms. Harchuck was chosen to work with Barry’s staff as a faculty research assistant, contributing to several faculty-authored law review articles. 

Subsequent to receiving her Juris Doctor from Barry, Ms. Harchuck pursued an advanced LL.M. degree in intellectual property law at the University of Akron School of Law after being recruited by the school’s nationally-ranked Center for Intellectual Property Law & Technology.  While obtaining her Masters of Law, she received the CALI Excellence Book Award for her writing in Current Issues in IP Policy & Politics.  That same article, “The Performance Rights Act of 2009: The Saving Grace of the Recording Industry or a Simple Case of Displaced Aggression?” was solicited by several members of Congress for research purposes and later used in committee lobbying efforts.  Also published, her LL.M. thesisprods the nexus between intellectual property law and one of pop culture’s most influential obsessions: fashion.  Chosen by the University of Akron School of Law’s faculty, Ms. Harchuck’s, “Fashion Design Protection: The Eternal Plight of the Soft Sculpture,” can be seen in the Spring 2010 issue of the University of Akron Intellectual Property Law Journal. 

Prior to joining Walters Law Group, Ms. Harchuck worked in-house at WVIZ/PBS ideastream® acting as a liaison between corporate and legal entities as a Media Licensing Rights Coordinator.  In this position, she concentrated on drafting and amending media licenses from Civil Rights footage, ultimately used to create a website for presentation to a congressional grant committee. 

Ms. Harchuck has also practiced as Of Counsel for an entertainment law firm in Orlando, Florida.  There, she concentrated on trademark and copyright procurement and licensing, as well as consultation and negotiation of various branding agreements and Internet legal services. 

Ms. Harchuck’s professional memberships include The Florida Bar (Young Lawyers Division and Entertainment, Arts, & Sports Law Section), the American Bar Association (Intellectual Property Section, Entertainment & Sports Industries Forum, and Antitrust Section), the Orange County Bar Association (Intellectual Property Committee), the Central Florida Association for Women Lawyers (CFAWL), the International Trademark Association (INTA), and the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).  She is admitted to practice law in the State of Florida. 

Jennifer M. Kinsley, Of Counsel

Jennifer M. Kinsley dedicates her practice to fighting governmental abuse of civil and constitutional rights.  She has a passion for the underdog and works tirelessly to protect and defend the impoverished, the improperly silenced, and the wrongfully accused.

Ms. Kinsley obtained her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Florida, where she graduated with highest honors and Phi Beta Kappa.  She received her law degree from the Duke University School of Law in 1999.  While at Duke, Ms. Kinsley headed the Prisoners Rights Project, founded the Criminal Law Society, acted in and directed plays for the Duke Law Drama Society, and interned for the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts project in New York.

After graduating near the top of her class, Ms. Kinsley began her practice as an assistant public defender for the Hamilton County, Ohio  Public Defender’s Office and later joined the firm of Sirkin Pinales & Schwartz, where she was named a partner in January 2008.  In November 2009, Ms. Kinsley and her mentor, H. Louis Sirkin, founded a new firm, Sirkin Kinsley & Nazzarine, where they continue to concentrate their practice on adult entertainment law, criminal defense, and civil rights.  Ms. Kinsley joined the Walters Law Group as of counsel in January, 2010.

   Over the past decade, Ms. Kinsley has developed vast expertise in representing and advising clients involved with erotic expression.  For example, she has been successful at invalidating local, state, and federal regulations of adult businesses; has defended numerous individuals and corporations charged with obscenity crimes; and regularly advises clients on copyright, Internet, and contract law issues unique to those engaged in sexually explicit expression.  She was also a key member of the Free Speech Coalition’s original legal team challenging the record-keeping requirements of 18 U.S.C. 2257.

Ms. Kinsley currently serves as the First Vice President of the First Amendment Lawyers Association and is an active member of the Greater Cincinnati Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Ohio Bar Association, and the Cincinnati Bar Association. She lectures frequently on free speech and civil rights issues and is an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati Law School.  Ms. Kinsley has also delivered numerous presentations on Free Speech and censorship issues.  She was named a 2007 Rising Star by Ohio SuperLawyers Magazine and was the 2007 recipient of the Children Law Center’s Advocacy Partnership Award.  In addition, Ms. Kinsley recently testified as an expert witness before the United States District Court for the District of Vermont. 

In her spare time, Ms. Kinsley is an avid marathon runner and a frequent community activist.  She also volunteers her professional services through the Volunteer Lawyers Program, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center.

Ms. Kinsley is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court; the Supreme Courts of Ohio and Florida; the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits; the United States District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Ohio, the District of Colorado, and the District of Connecticut; and all courts in the States of Ohio and Florida.  She has been admitted pro hac vice in over fifteen states and accepts cases and clients from across the country.