Our Litigators of the Week are Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partners Grace Speights and Brad Nes, who notched a win for PBS in a high-profile fight with former late night host Tavis Smiley, whose show was pulled in late 2017 amidst allegations of sexual misconduct.

Companies owned by Smiley sued PBS, seeking millions in damages for breach of contract and other business torts. On behalf of PBS, Speights and Nes countersued for breach of the “morals clauses” in the show’s production and distribution agreements, which specifically prohibited Smiley from doing anything that might tend to bring himself into public disrepute or reflect unfavorably on PBS.