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 two “skills” courses entitled Business Planning: Structuring and Financing a New Enterprise and Deal Strategy, Structure, Drafting & Negotiation. Levine brings to the faculty a uniquely broad experience of over the past 46 years in the entertainment, communications and convergent media industries; he has been an attorney, a chief studio executive, investment banker and media and financial consultant.

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 Tribune
December 6, 2018
Re: Elyn Saks

Elyn Saks was quoted in an article exploring the economic and social costs that occur due to the mistreatment of persons suffering from mental illness. "Thirty years ago, I was given a diagnosis of Schizophrenia," she said. "My prognosis was ‘grave’: I would never live independently, hold a job, find a loving partner, or get married. My home would be a board-and-care facility, my days spent watching TV in a day room with other people debilitated by mental illness.” The author of the article went on to discuss the ways that people dealing with mental health issues should be cared for, arguing that they "have the right to live with dignity just as anyone with diabetes or hypertension or heart disease. Mental illness, after all, is an illness like any other."

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Sam Erman
September, 2018

Sam Erman wrote an op-ed, "Devastation Without Representation in Puerto Rico," posted to The Los Angeles Times on September 20, 2018.

Gregory Keating
September, 2018

"Principles of Risk Imposition and the Priority of Avoiding Harm," Revus [Online] (2018).

Jody David Armour
September, 2018

"Where Bias Lives in the Criminal Law and its Processes: How Judges and Jurors Socially Construct Black Criminals," American Journal of Criminal Law 45 (2018): 203.