Richard N. Winfield, a leading U.S. First Amendment lawyer who represented The Associated Press for three decades and championed freedom of expression for journalists around the world, died on Tuesday, Oct. 22. He was 91.
Winfield died in his sleep at Bellevue Hospital in New York, said his daughter, Nicole Winfield, who is AP’s Rome-based Italy and Vatican correspondent. He had suffered head trauma after a fall on Oct. 7.
Winfield served as general counsel for AP for three decades while a partner at the New York law firm of Rogers & Wells, which became Clifford Chance US LLP. During that time, he worked closely with American publishers and editors, defending AP as well as other media clients in hundreds of press freedom cases.