Adam Levin

Levin, a partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, has spent two decades employing a legal defense grounded in the First Amendment to shield media companies in discrimination and wrongful termination claims.

"For years I've been trying to address the overlap between civil liberties and civil rights. Free speech is fundamental in this country and in some cases it overrides civil rights," he said.

In 2019 in an influential case on the topic, he persuaded the state Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that narrowly construed California's anti-SLAPP statute in dispute between a television network and a news producer over the producer's termination. Wilson v. Cable News Network, BC559720 (Ca. S. Ct., opinion filed July 22, 2019).

The opinion held that the anti-SLAPP law, designed to eliminate early claims that have minimal merit, can in fact be used to screen discriminatory or retaliatory employment actions, a view that had been unclear in lower court decisions.

"The court of appeal said discrimination claims were somehow exempt from the anti-SLAPP statute, and we convinced the Supreme Court otherwise," Levin said. His evidence showed that the producer's termination was based on CNN's protected activity of safeguarding against plagiarism by its journalists.

The case returned to the court of appeal, which found there was sufficient evidence for further litigation. The case remains in process pending trial courts' re-opening. "The anti-SLAPP statutes allows claims to be tested at the outset of litigation to avoid a chilling effect on free speech," Levin said. "It's a very important procedural tool because without it, cases will proceed to very expensive discovery which inhibits free speech by defendants."

Levin represents United Talent Agency in an antitrust suit targeting the Writers Guild of America over packaging fees. United Talent Agency LLC. v. Writers Guild of America West Inc., 2:19-cv-05585 (C.D. Cal., filed July 27, 2019). The dispute pits unions representing writers against talent agents over alleged conflicts regarding compensation. Levin seeks an injunction to roll back the writers' new Agency Code of Conduct that, according to Levin's complaint, "requires writers to fire the talent agents who refused to bend the knee to WGA's demand that talent agencies abandon the business practice of 'packaging' and their affiliations with content production companies."

Given the scope of the case and the long history behind the basic agreements that have long governed the relations between writers and agents, the outcome could have significant implications for the entertainment industry, Levis said. "We're in discovery. The guilds' motion to dismiss has been denied, and we are at the second motion to dismiss stage."

-- John Roemer