Toby Nixon Award

Attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard recognized for long commitment to open government efforts

Founding WashCOG board member and fierce advocate for open government Michele Earl-Hubbard was honored with the 2023 Toby Nixon Award for her longstanding commitment to the cause of open government, demonstrated through exemplary words or deeds.

As a devoted, enthusiastic member of WashCOG since its earliest days, she has served the Coalition and its cause of government transparency with passion and enthusiasm. She is also a former president and longtime member of the Legal Committee.

Notably, she represented the members of Washington's media who sued the Washington State Legislature and obtained the 2019 state Supreme Court ruling that legislators are, in fact, covered by the Public Records Act. Michele's early studies and work in journalism inform and underscore her commitment. (She has an undergraduate degree in journalism and then went to law school to support journalism in a different way!)

Her legal work supporting First Amendment and related issues has been recognized for years by professional organizations, including being listed in Best Lawyers in America for First Amendment Law every year since 2007 and for First Amendment litigation since 2007, and Allied Law Group has been recognized by US News and World Report as among the best Media and First Amendment law firms every year since 2007. Michele is also the legal adviser to members of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Michele's First Amendment and government transparency commitments go beyond WashCOG; she serves on the Prepublication Review Committee of the Media Law Resource Center in New York City; is a senior editor and author of the Washington State Bar Association's Public Records Act Deskbook. She has worked with the Society of Professional Journalists as a state FOI delegate and is a former board member of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

WashCOG recognized Michele Earl-Hubbard with the Andersen Award in 2016. Her support for the Coalition has continued, and it is likely to in the future despite her recent decision to step away from active board membership.