Public interest attorney and former Media Access Project...

Public interest attorney and former Media Access Project head Andrew Schwartzman will join Georgetown’s Institute for Public Representation (IPR) to lead the new Public Interest Communications Law Project, said the Benton Foundation and Georgetown Law in a news release Tuesday. The project is a joint creation of the foundation and school, and Schwartzman will be Benton senior counselor, funded through grants from the Alphawood Foundation, Ford Foundation and the Media Democracy Fund, the release said. Schwartzman’s appointment will “expand IPR’s capacity to provide public representation in such critical areas as the transition of traditional wireline telephone service to broadband (known ’the IP transition'), Universal Service Fund reform, particularly of Lifeline and E-Rate, Diversity of Media Ownership and Spectrum Policy,” he said. Schwartzman will be able to continue as senior adviser to other Washington-based public interest groups, along with his private law practice, the release said. “I have long sought to help create a new generation of public interest advocates able to promote the public’s First Amendment rights to have access to a diverse and vigorous debate on important issues,” said Schwartzman. “This position is an ideal way to continue and extend that mission."