Lassiter, William Carroll, 1909-

William Carroll Lassiter of Raleigh, N.C., was an attorney specializing in cases involving libel and the press, and, from 1938 to 1979, served as general counsel and chief lobbyist for the North Carolina Press Association.

Lassiter received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1930 and his law degree from Duke in 1933.

William Carroll Lassiter was born in Smithfield, N.C., on 5 March 1909. 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. William's mother was joined in the family business in 1934 by his younger brother, Thomas James Lassiter Jr., who eventually became primary owner (with William and his mother owning smaller percentages) of the paper, as well as its publisher and editor.

William Lassiter attended Smithfield public schools, and graduated from Duke University with an AB degree in 1930; he remained at the Duke to earn his law degree in 1933. In that same year, he commenced the practice of law in Raleigh, N.C., 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 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. Lassiter left lobbying in 1979, but continued to advise the North Carolina Press Association and its member newspapers on legal matters until 1984, even doing so in an unofficial capacity after that date.