Jeff Zeman

Jeff, a Michigan native, has spent his career in public service, starting with his more than seven years as an Assistant Prosecutor in the Detroit suburb of Oakland County. Prosecuting state criminal cases, Jeff gained extensive trial experience, serving as lead attorney on 22 jury trials — and many more bench trials — on felony and misdemeanor charges. 

As an attorney on FIRE’s litigation team, Jeff has represented clients across the country facing government censorship, and has contributed to amicus curiae briefs in cases impacting student and faculty free speech rights. In 2025, Jeff co-produced FIRE’s First Amendment Lessons for College Administrators, a video series about free speech in the educational environment, including categories of unprotected speech, the limits of government power in public fora, and how the First Amendment interacts with discrimination and harassment laws.  

Jeff’s writings and speaking engagements for FIRE have addressed topics ranging from free speech’s intersection with intellectual property, to qualified immunity, to the need to defend even speech we disagree with.

Jeff is a member of the Michigan and Pennsylvania bars. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2007, and received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in 2012, with concentrations in litigation and intellectual property.