Alan J. Levine

Alan J. Levine joined the faculty at the USC Gould School of Law in the Fall of 2013 where he created and continues to teach the “specialized transactional skills” courses titled Business Planning: Structuring and Financing a New Enterprise, and Deal Strategies in Business & Entertainment Law. Professor Levine will be teaching the Business Planning course in the Fall 2019 semester, and the Deal Strategies course in the Spring 2020. These courses are designed for, and are open to, upper division students who are candidates for JD, MBA and JD/MBA degrees who are interested in pursuing leadership roles and professional transactional careers in business and in the entertainment/media world.

Levine is a veteran entertainment, tax and corporate attorney, studio chief executive, investment banker, and financial and media consultant with more than 48 years of professional experience in the entertainment, communications and convergent media industries.

Most recently, Levine was the managing partner of Canon Media Partners (“CMP”) that provided a broad range of operational, business, financial and strategic advice and counsel to clients in the entertainment and media industry. Founded in January of 2010, CMP was the former J.P. Morgan Entertainment Advisors (“EA”), which was formed as a unit of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2007. CMP and EA focused on assisting clients in the development and structuring of all forms of business strategies and models and the selection of, and ongoing advice to, management, the assembling of management teams to operate new or existing businesses, the creation of new industry initiatives, and the launching of new media businesses.

Levine is also the former president and chief operating officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (“SPE”) having joined SPE in that role when Sony purchased Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. in 1989. While at SPE, Levine was responsible for all aspects of SPE’s business and corporate operations, which included the motion picture, television, home video, merchandising, exhibition, studio facilities, corporate development, community relations, corporate affairs, legal, finance, human resources and administrative activities of the company worldwide.

As an attorney, Levine was counsel to the law firm of Ziffren, Brittenham, LLP, and a senior partner in the law firm of Armstrong, Hirsch & Levine; his legal and consulting practices consisted of representing individuals and companies in all aspects of the entertainment and media business, including public and private media entities, independent production and distribution companies, recording and music publishing companies, theatre chains, actors, directors, writers, producer, playwrights, music artists, athletes, executives, agents and managers.

Levine holds a BS degree in business administration and a JD in law from USC. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the State Bar of California and has served on the Boards of Directors of DreamWorks Studios, Castle Rock Entertainment and a variety of other civic, charitable and education boards and committees, including the Board of Governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Boards of Councilors of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and USC Gould Law School, the Boards of Directors of the USC Associates, the Roundtable of the Museum of Radio & Television, and the Frank Sinatra Foundation. He has also lectured at numerous entertainment and media conferences, including presentations at the Harvard Business School, Howard University, UCLA and USC. 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post
December 2, 2019
Re: Jonathan Handel

Jonathan Handel was quoted on Pete Davidson's nondisclosure agreement for attending his comedy shows, barring the audience from speaking about his shows. Handel mentioned that successfully suing a random fan for $1 million would be nearly impossible. “The optics of going to court and suing one of your fans is really pretty ugly,” Handel said. “It would be foolish to do that.”

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Scott Altman
October, 2019

"Are Boycotts, Shunning, and Shaming Corrupt?” Legal Theory Workshop, University of Virginia Law School, Charlottesville, VA.

Gregory Keating
October, 2019

Gregory Keating’s paper, “Is Tort Law ‘Private’?” was reviewed by Ellen Bublick as a significant work of scholarship relating to Tort Law in JOTWELL: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots), on October 15, 2019.

Dan Simon
October, 2019

“Confessions True and False,” Korean Society for Criminal Law, Yonsei University Law School, Seoul, South Korea.