Ramsingh Legal
PLLC
Joy Ramsingh
Joy's practice focuses on transparent government issues and appellate litigation. She has significant experience with both in the private and public sector, counseling news media organizations, businesses, government entities, and individuals.
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Prior to establishing this practice, Joy worked at a private firm in Philadelphia exclusively handling transparency and media issues. Before that, she was an appeals officer at the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, where she also served as appellate and amicus curiae counsel. In that role, she also issued hundreds of binding legal opinions in public records appeals.​ While there, she represented the Office of Open Records as appellate counsel, successfully defending the constitutionality of the state's public records law.
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One of the highlights of Joy's representative matters was a case of first impression involving a school district that was removing books from a school library. Joy not only successfully argued that the requester had a right to see a record of the removals; but also conclusively established that the school district had falsified and tampered with the public record before they provided it, winning a substantial attorney’s fees and costs award.
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Joy also successfully represented several national news outlets in obtaining the 911 call recordings relating to former President Trump's assassination attempt at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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Joy's work has been featured in NPR's All Things Considered, NBC News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Law.com, Axios, and others.
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Joy counsels clients with public records issues across the nation and serves on the leadership board of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. Firms, Fortune 500 companies, news media organizations, and government agencies seek out and rely on her focused experience when dealing with public records litigation and compliance issues. She enjoys collecting antiquarian books in her free time.
Education
University of Tennessee, Juris Doctor
Magna Cum Laude, Order of the Coif, Moot Court Board
Concentration in Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
Lipscomb University, Bachelor of Arts
Magna Cum Laude, Music
Contact
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Assistant: Jessica Harvey
Court Admissions
U.S. District for the Middle District of Tennessee
U.S. District for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
State Admissions
Tennessee
Pennsylvania
Georgia
Selected Representative Matters
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Successfully represented Court TV in gaining access to film criminal trial court proceedings in Georgia
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Obtained the 911 call recordings relating to the Trump shooting at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, for NBC News, Scripps News, and the Intercept, within 45 days of filing an appeal
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Co-Counsel in Atlanta Community Press Collective and Lucy Parsons Labs v. Atlanta Police Foundation, an Open Records Act case seeking to hold the police foundation accountable for its use of taxpayer monies and the building of the Atlanta Police Department's Public Safety Training Center
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Co-Counsel in Campside Media LLC v. Georgia Bureau of Investigation, an Open Records Act case seeking public records from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's handling of the officer-involved shooting during the building of the Atlanta Police Department's Public Safety Training Center
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Counsel in a case of first impression in Pennsylvania, in which a requester conclusively established that the agency falsified records to evade the Right-to-Know Law, winning an award of attorney's fees and costs for bad faith
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Obtained near maximum civil penalties against five city councilmembers, a mayor, and a city manager in Georgia for violations of the Sunshine Act
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Counsel for Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism and the Macon Newsroom in public records matters
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Sunshine Act Counsel to citizen watch-dog groups and local government agencies, providing counsel as to compliance with the law
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Appellate Counsel on behalf of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation in a case of first impression concerning the accessibility of medical cannabis court records
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Amicus Curiae Counsel on behalf of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records defending the constitutionality of the Right-to-Know Law (Lehighton Area School District v. Campbell, No. 19-0421 (Carbon Co. Ct. Comm. Pleas))
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Appellate Counsel on behalf of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records in a landmark case holding that a de facto regulator of scholastic sports was an "agency" for purposes of the Right-to-Know Law (Campbell v. PIAA, 661 M.D. 2020 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2020))
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Amicus Curiae Counsel on behalf of the Pennsylvania Office Of Open Records in a landmark case awarding over $100,000.00 to a requester in attorney's fees (Uniontown Newspapers Inc. v. Pa. Dept. of Corrections, 197 A.3d 825 (Pa. 2018))
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Amicus Curiae Counsel on behalf of the Pennsylvania Office Of Open Records defending the constitutionality of the Right-to-Know Law (County of Adams v. Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, Ryan McFarland and Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, No. 2019-S-907 (Adams Co. Ct. Comm. Pleas))​
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Authored hundreds of binding open records legal opinions as an Appeals Officer at the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records
Selected Speaking Engagements
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The Georgia Open Records Act at 65: Challenges and Opportunities, Both New and Old, Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference, February 23, 2024
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Right to Know Law and Sunshine Act Litigation Roundtable, Pennsylvania News Media Association Annual Media Lawyer Conference, November 2, 2023
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Sunshine in the Classroom: Open Government and Free Speech in Georgia schools, Georgia First Amendment Foundation Webinar, October 25, 2023
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Public Access and Transparency: New Opportunities and Obstacles in a post-pandemic Georgia, Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference, February 24, 2023
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Open Records Workshop, Middle Georgia Regional Library, November 10, 2022 (in collaboration with Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism)
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The Filmed Blue Line: How to Get Body Cam Footage in a Post-Floyd Era, Society for Professional Journalists Annual Conference, October 28, 2022
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#MediaLawNetwork, National Freedom of Information Coalition Annual Summit, October 20, 2022
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Police or prosecutors? Who is really restricting access to law enforcement records and videos, and why? National Freedom of Information Coalition Annual Summit, October 19, 2022
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Open Records Workshop, Middle Georgia Regional Library, November 10, 2022 (in collaboration with Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism)
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How to Request Police Video in PA, Allegheny County Bar Association, October 7, 2022
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The Case for Model Open Records Legislation, Virginia Coalition for Open Government, Semi-Annual Conference, May 18, 2022
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