Mr. Sperlein is currently on leave and not actively practicing with Randazza Legal Group, effective 1 December 2018.
A native of Baltimore, D. Gill Sperlein graduated magna cum laude from American University’s Washington College.
Upon moving to San Francisco in 1994, Sperlein worked for Crosby Heafey Roach and May and later as associate to noted First Amendment and civil rights attorney Tom Steel.
From 2002 to 2011, Sperlein served as General Counsel at Io Group, Inc., where he developed an intellectual property protection program and spearheaded the corporation’s litigation department. During that time he also served on the Board of Directors of the Free Speech Coalition where he instituted programs and policies designed to mitigate the effects of wide-spread on-line infringement.
Sperlein now maintains a private practice in San Francisco, focusing on intellectual property, First Amendment law, general business litigation, and defamation defense, particularly for bloggers.
In 2013, Sperlein obtained a preliminary injunction freezing the assets of FF Magnat, Limited, the operators of the cyberlocker oron.com. Oron appealed the preliminary injunction but the case settled prior to a ruling by the Ninth Circuit.
Sperlein currently represents plaintiffs brining an as applied challenge to San Francisco’s recently enacted nudity ban, which the City has implemented in an unconstitutional manner, resulting in the prior restraint of citizen’s rights to advocate for body freedom and repeal of the law.
