W. Wat Hopkins

• News Writing
• Reporting
• Communication Law
• Free Speech
• Free Press

• PhD, University of North Carolina
• MA, University of North Carolina
• BA, Western Carolina University

• Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
• Supreme Court Historical Society
• Society of Professional Journalists
• Virginia Coalition for Open Government
• American Civil Liberties Union

• Top Three Faculty Paper in Law, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, annual convention, Kansas City, MO., July 30 – Aug. 2, 2003.
• Top Faculty Paper in Law, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Southeast Colloquium, March 3-6, 1994, Charleston, S.C.
• Henry M. Phillips Research Grant in Jurisprudence, American Philosophical Society, 1993.

Books

Mass Communication Law in Virginia, 3d ed. Stillwater, Okla.: New Forums Press, 2001, 210 pp. 

Mr. Justice Brennan and Freedom of Expression. New York: Praeger, 1991, 194 pp.

Communication and the Law, 2014 Edition. W. Wat Hopkins, ed. Northport, Ala.: Vision Press, under contract. Published each January since 1998.

Journal Articles

“Snyder v. Phelps and the Unfortunate Death of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress as a Speech-Based Tort,” 3 Journal of Media Law and Ethics 1-36 (2012).

“When Does F*** Not Mean F***?: FCC v. Fox Television Stations and a Call for Protecting Emotive Speech,” 64 Federal Communications Law Journal 1-45

(2011).

“Snyder v. Phelps, Private Persons and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress: A Chance for the Supreme Court to Set Things Right,” 9 First Amendment Law Review 149-92 (Fall 2010).

“Cross Burning Revisited: What the Supreme Court Should Have Done in Virginia v. Black and Why it Didn’t,” 26 Hastings Communication and Entertainment Law Journal (COMM/ENT) 269-315 (No. 2, 2004).