Janet Levine is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Los Angeles office and chair of the firm's White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement Group. She is a trial and appellate attorney, with extensive experience in securities, health care and tax fraud and all manner of public corruption matters. She has represented politicians, judges, directors, officers and executives and licensed professionals in myriad industries, providing defenses against governmental accusations of wrongdoing. Her clients are local, national, and international and include individuals, entities, and government organizations. Ms. Levine brings wide-ranging trial experience as well as extensive expertise in pretrial resolutions of difficult and sensitive matters, including litigating grand jury matters.
Ms. Levine is one of the few lawyers to ever try a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) case. After a trial lasting over five weeks, she obtained a dismissal with prejudice of all charges against her client based on prosecutorial misconduct (United States v. Aguilar, 10-1031(A)-AHM, U.S. District Court, Central District of California).
After graduating from law school, Ms. Levine served as law clerk to the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcon, United States Circuit Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and as a Deputy Federal Public Defender, where she represented indigent defendants charged with a variety of federal crimes. She received her undergraduate degree with honors in 1977 from the University of California at Los Angeles, and her law degree in 1980 from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where she graduated summa cum laude, and was an editor of the Loyola Law Review.
In 2006, Ms. Levine and John Vandevelde, received "California Attorney of the Year" awards for their representation of accused double-agent Katrina Leung. After a widely publicized legal battle, they obtained a dismissal of all charges based on prosecutorial misconduct. They then negotiated a global resolution of all criminal and tax matters, no additional time in custody and the return of most of the client's seized assets. Ms. Levine also received the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section's 2006 Defense Attorney of the Year award.
Ms. Levine is the Chair of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section and is also a member of the Criminal Justice Section Council, the Section's policy-making and advisory board. She is a past co-chair of the American Bar Association's White Collar Crime Committee, and a past-chair of the American Bar Association's West Coast Regional Subcommittee on White Collar Crime. She is also a past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Further, Ms. Levine has served as a delegate to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.
Ms. Levine is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In July 2009, she received the Charles R. English Award, presented each year by the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association to a member of the section who has distinguished themselves in the field of criminal justice. She is recognized by many publications as being among the best lawyers in the white-collar crime arena, including being named one of the best white collar criminal defense lawyers in California by Chambers USA. Ms. Levine has also been named one of the Top 10 Southern California Super Lawyers and has been included for many years as one of the top 100 lawyers in Southern California by Los Angeles Magazine. She was listed as among the "Best in the West" lawyers for business crime matters by California Lawyer and named one of the top women litigators in California, according to the Los Angeles Daily Journal. She has also appeared in multiple editions of the "Best Lawyers in America," and in 2012 was named the Criminal Defense White-Collar Lawyer of the Year for Southern California.
Before joining Crowell & Moring, Ms. Levine was a partner in the Los Angeles firm Lightfoot Vandevelde Sadowsky Crouchley Rutherford & Levine LLP.
Publications
· "Active Compliance Programs for Lobbying and Election Law," ABA Internal Corporate Investigations and Forum for In-House Counsel 2010 (2010). Co-Authors: Janet Levine, Ashley N. Bailey and Brian Roemer.
· "'E-Discovery' in the Criminal Context: Emerging Issues and Trends," 2009 ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime (March 2009). Co-Authors: Justin P. Murphy, Stephen M. Byers and Janet I. Levine.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "C&M Top Ranked, Again," Government Contracts Bullet Points (February 6, 2012). Contacts: Angela B. Styles, Janet Levine.
· "UK Bribery Act - Ready or Not, Here It Comes," White Collar Alert (June 30, 2011). Contacts: Gerallt Owen, Janet Levine, Thomas A. Hanusik, Alan W. H. Gourley, Kelly T. Currie, Daniel L. Zelenko, Femi Dekalu-Thomas, Simi Kaur Grewal.
· "UK Bribery Act - UK Government succumbs to pressure and delays implementation of the Act," White Collar Alert (February 1, 2011). Contacts: Gerallt Owen, Alan W. H. Gourley, Janet Levine, Philip T. Inglima.
· "Court of Appeals Rules That Grand Jury Subpoenas Trump Civil Protective Orders Covering Foreign Documents," White Collar Alert (December 9, 2010). Contacts: Stephen M. Byers, Michael L. Cypers, Janet Levine, Kelly T. Currie.
· "The UK Bribery Act 2010 - avoid being the 'April fool' next year," White Collar Alert(July 22, 2010). Contacts: Gerallt Owen, Janet Levine, Philip T. Inglima.
· "New Amendments to Corporate Sentencing Guidelines: Important Changes in Requirements for Effective Compliance and Ethics Programs," White Collar Alert (May 3, 2010). Contacts: Daniel L. Zelenko, Shamiso Maswoswe, Stephen M. Byers, Philip T. Inglima, Janet Levine, John S. Crouchley.
· "DOJ Appoints New Prosecutors and FBI Agents to Fight IP Crime," White Collar Alert(April 27, 2010). Contacts: Stephen M. Byers, Michael J. Songer, Douglas W. Sullivan, Janet Levine, Melanie Natasha Henry, Daniel L. Zelenko.
· "DOJ Allows Hiring of Foreign Official under the FCPA," White Collar Alert (April 23, 2010). Contacts: Thomas A. Hanusik, Alan W. H. Gourley, Janet Levine, Daniel L. Zelenko, Martinique Busino.
· "Take Two -- Charging The Bribe Recipient," White Collar Alert (January 25, 2010). Contacts: Thomas A. Hanusik, Janet Levine, Alan W. H. Gourley.
· "President Creates Interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force," White Collar Alert (November 19, 2009). Contacts: Janet Levine, Thomas A. Hanusik, Daniel L. Zelenko.
· "Attorney General Commits to "Smart on Crime" Approach to Economic Crimes,"White Collar Alert (August 5, 2009). Contacts: Janet Levine, Andy Liu, Shamiso Maswoswe.
· "C&M Top Ranked," White Collar Alert Contacts: Janet Levine, Angela B. Styles.
Speaking Engagements
· "Self Report? Or Roll the Dice?" Sixth Annual National Institute on Securities Fraud, New Orleans, LA (November 3-4, 2011). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "Hot Topics in International Complex Criminal Investigations," 14th Annual Transnational Crime Conference, Amsterdam (June 9-11, 2011). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "Ponzi Schemes - When There is Nothing There," 25th Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, San Diego (March 2-4, 2011). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "Discussion of Honest Services Mail Fraud Legislation," Town Hall Meeting on the State of White Collar Crime, American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section Fall Meeting, Washington DC (November 4-7, 2010). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "Sentencing Advocacy for the 21st Century," 3rd Annual Sentencing and Reentry Institute and Criminal Justice Legal Educators Colloquium, American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section Fall Meeting, Washington DC (November 4-7, 2010). Moderator: Janet Levine.
· "Sentencing Guidelines in a Securities Fraud Case: Ouch," American Bar Association's Fifth Annual National Institute on Securities Fraud, New Orleans, LA (October 7 & 8, 2010). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "DOJ on Line One, WSJ on Line Two: How to Make the Right Calls in the Worst Case Scenario," Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter, August ACCess MCLE program (August 2010). Presenters: Kelly Currie, Michael Cypers, Janet Levine, Jeff Rutherford, Mark Troy and Katie Balderrama.
· "How Technology is Changing the Law," The Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (March 15, 2010). Presenter: Janet Levine.
· "Obstruction of Justice and Making False Statements: Where the Cover-Up is Worse than the Crime," American Bar Association's 24th Annual Institute on White Collar Crime, Miami, FL (February 24, 2010). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "Sentencing Mitigation and Advocacy: Crafting and Presenting a Sufficient Sentence," The American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section 2009 Fall Conference (November 6, 2009). Presenter: Janet Levine.
· "Practical Advice for Defending a Securities Fraud Prosecution or Enforcement Action," Fourth Annual National Institute on Securities Fraud (October 15-16, 2009). Panelist: Janet Levine.
· "Sentencing Advocacy in White Collar Cases," National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers 2009 Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (August 5-9, 2009). Panel Participant: Janet I. Levine.
· "Representing the Individual," National Institute on Internal Corporate Investigations and In-House Council, presented by the American Bar Association, Washington, D.C. (May 6-8, 2009). Moderator: Janet I. Levine.
· "Political Corruption Prosecutions: From City Hall to the Halls of Congress: How are Political Corruption Cases Investigated, Prosecuted and Defended?," Fidler Institute on Criminal Justice, reception for Los Angeles Superior Court Judges, Loyola School, Los Angeles (May 1, 2009). Panel Participant: Janet I. Levine.