Alan Levine

Chair, Board of Trustees

Alan Levine is senior counsel and former head of the international law firm of Cooley LLP and a leading trial lawyer in the United States. He joined the JTS Board in 1998, assuming the role of vice chair in 2009 and of chair in 2015.  

Mr. Levine has a long and distinguished career of leadership and involvement in the Jewish community in addition to his service at JTS. He is a former chair of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, one of the leading Conservative congregations in the US, and has served as both chair and co-chair of the Lawyers Division of UJA Federation and the Anti-Defamation League. 

A partner in the commercial litigation and White Collar & Regulatory Defense practice groups of Cooley LLP’s litigation department, Mr. Levine joined Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman LLP in 1980; it was merged into Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in 2006. From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Levine was managing partner of Kronish Lieb. During his legal career, spanning nearly 50 years, Mr. Levine has represented numerous individuals and companies in complex civil, criminal, and regulatory matters, and has appeared in federal and state courts throughout the country, including the US Supreme Court. After a federal clerkship, Mr. Levine began his career as an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York. In 1991, he was elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers.

In 2021, Mr. Levine was co-counsel, pro bono, for the plaintiffs in the Charlottesville Trial against leaders of the white supremacist movement for the injuries caused by the Unite the Right violence in August 2017.

Mr. Levine has also had an extensive career of leadership in the legal community. In 2014, the New York Law Journal honored him with its Public Service Award for “Lawyers Who Lead by Example.” He is currently President of the Legal Aid Society in New York and has been on its board since 2002 and was its Chair from 2007-2011. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Appellate Division First Department’s Advisory Committee on Representation of Justice and as Executive Vice President of the Historical Society of New York Courts.

Mr. Levine holds degrees from New York University School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was recognized by the New York Law Journal for his prominence and experience in litigating cases involving complex financial transactions. Mr. Levine has been listed in Chambers USA as one of America’s “Leading Business Lawyers,” New York magazine’s “The New York Area’s Top Rated Lawyers” feature, Benchmark Litigation, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, The International Who’s Who of Commercial Litigators, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who Legal, New York Metro Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, and Who’s Who in America. Groups that have honored Mr. Levine for his contributions include the Legal Aid Society, American Friends of the Hebrew University, the Anti-Defamation League, the Police Athletic League, and the New York Law Journal.