|
Joseph is the senior partner of the Chicago law firm Joseph, Lichtenstein & Levinson and is special counsel to Playboy Enterprises, Inc. Since 1969, he has been a board member of the Playboy Foundation, serving as executive director from 1969 to 1978 and as chairman since 1978. In these capacities, he has been involved in the protection of First Amendment rights, privacy and censorship issues, women's rights, and other Constitutional issues.
Joseph served for many years as a member of the executive committee and board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Illinois Division and served on the ACLU National Board and its Communications Law Committee. He is currently a member of the ACLU's advisory board.
He was a founder and chairman of The Media Coalition for 13 years and continues as an active member. He is a trustee, officer and executive committee member of the Freedom to Read Foundation of the American Library Association and is a member of The Media Institute's advisory board. Joseph also has been a member of the executive committee of the Libel Defense Resource Center (LDRC), is co-author of the Summary of the Law of Illinois in LDRC's annual survey of the law in each state on defamation and related issues. He is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Magazine Publishers of America and is counsel to the International Academy of Sex Research and a member of the advisory board of the Illinois Arts Alliance and the Aperture Foundation.
A native of Chicago, Joseph attended the University of Illinois and received a J.D. from DePaul University, College of Law, in 1952. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Courts of Illinois and California and other federal Courts of Appeal and is a member of the Trial Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He has acted as cooperating attorney in numerous First Amendment and civil rights and liberties cases and is an experienced trial counsel. He was one of the counsel of record in ABA v. Hudnut (challenging the Indianapolis "pornography/civil rights" law) and ABA v. Virginia (challenging "harmful to minors" display laws), among other First Amendment cases.
Joseph was co-editor and publisher of Law and Disorder (1968) and contributing author on legal issues in the book, Sexual Problems of Adolescents in Institutions. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Social Work and Human Sexuality. He frequently writes and lectures on First Amendment rights, censorship and criminal justice. Between 1977 and 1990, he was an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology/Kent College of Law, instructing students on media and the First Amendment. He is counsel to numerous publishers, writers and members of the fine arts community.
Joseph is listed in Merrill's Illinois Legal Times as one of the Best Lawyers in America in the First Amendment Law category and is designated as a Leading Illinois Attorney by the American Research Corporation on the basis of peer selection. | 