David Snyder, a lawyer and former journalist, became executive director of the First Amendment Coalition in 2017. During David’s tenure, FAC has grown its staff and programs, which now include a journalist Subpoena Defense Initiative, FOI Boot Camps, a broad range of strategic litigation in state and federal court, and more live programs in California and beyond. David frequently comments on issues surrounding free speech, a free press and government transparency in the local, regional and national press.
Before leading FAC, David represented journalists and news companies as a lawyer with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. His clients included Mother Jones magazine, Salon, California Sunday Magazine and the San Jose Mercury News. David had an active pro bono practice that included representing FAC in a long-running case seeking public access to data on applicants for admission to the State Bar of California. David served a two-year term as the volunteer attorney member of the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, which hears citizen complaints about violations of that city’s open-government law.
Before law school, David was a reporter who started his career at his hometown newspaper, the Albuquerque Tribune, where he covered high school sports. He went on to work at the Dallas Morning News and The Washington Post, where he was a staff writer on the metro desk from 2000 to 2005.
He received a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin’s Plan II Honors Program and a Master of Science in Journalism, with honors, from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He earned his law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law. During law school, he held internships with the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he worked on civil liberties matters. After law school David clerked for Justice Richard Bosson of the New Mexico Supreme Court.
David is the 2020 recipient of the Freedom of Information award given by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and under his leadership, FAC was named the nonprofit recipient of the 2020 James Madison award given by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northern California Chapter.
David was raised in New Mexico and is a member of the California and New Mexico bars.
