Case files contain court papers of many types concerning libel, privacy rights, enforcement of the North Carolina Open Meetings statute, access to public records, and judicial gag orders. Materials relating to Lassiter's service in World War II also are included. North Carolina Press Association. Received from the School of Journalism, UNC-CH, in July 1987, and from Willam C. Lassiter of Raleigh, North Carolina, in August 1987 and June and July 1989. Researchers will note that much of this material remains in original envelopes and folders.
Further processing is deferred pending receipt of additional material.
Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. His father, Thomas James Lassiter, was an editor and co-owner of the Smithfield Herald, half ownership of which upon his sudden death was actively retained by his widow, Rena Bingham Lassiter. In that same year, he commenced the practice of law in Raleigh, North Carolina, with Willis Smith and I.M. Bailey. In 1938, Lassiter became general counsel and chief lobbyist to the state legislature for the North Carolina Press Association, of which his father and brother had, at various times, served as president. In his service as lobbyist, Lassiter was influential in fashioning North Carolina's open meeting law, while his reputation as a cracker-jack libel lawyer, his many published articles, and his outspokenness on issues regarding the First Amendment garnered him national recognition as the state's preeminent authority on newspaper law.