ProPublica has hired Sarah Matthews as deputy general counsel. In this role, she will provide day-to-day legal support for the organization’s full range of activities, with emphasis on offering legal services to its newsroom.

Matthews comes to ProPublica from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she litigated cases involving access to records and proceedings, fought subpoenas and filed amicus briefs on important First Amendment issues. She also led a pre-publication review practice for investigative journalists and supervised the organization’s hotline for journalists.

Before joining the Reporters Committee, Matthews was associate principal counsel at The Walt Disney Co. and a litigation associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where she focused on First Amendment, media law and entertainment cases. Prior to Gibson Dunn, she clerked for U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb for the District of New Jersey.

“As ProPublica grows in size and ambition, we want to make sure we have the legal firepower to bring ambitious cases to get the documents we need to do great journalism and defend us from those who would rather we stay silent,” said ProPublica general counsel Jeremy Kutner, to whom Matthews will report. “We could not be more thrilled to have Sarah on board.”

“I’m delighted to join ProPublica and have the chance to support its top-notch newsroom,” Matthews said. “ProPublica’s work exposing abuses of power through investigative journalism is more important than ever.”