alandowling

Alan Dowling has practiced law continuously in Los Angeles more than thirty five years, and has been a sole practitioner since 1991. He has, for many years, received the top-ranked “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell™, based on peer review, signifying “very high to preeminent legal ability and very high ethical standards as established by confidential opinions from members of the Bar.” Mr. Dowling is admitted to practice before all courts of the State of California, as well as the United States Supreme Court, several federal courts of appeal (including the Ninth Circuit), and several federal district courts (including the Central District of California). Mr. Dowling began his legal career at the highly-respected Los Angeles firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, renowned in the entertainment field in particular. In the 1980s, Mr. Dowling was a partner (and head of the Entertainment Litigation Group) in the Beverly Hills office of the international law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, headquartered in New York. For a time after the widely-publicized demise of the Finley, Kumble firm, he was Of Counsel to the venerable New York firm of Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin,Krim & Ballon, in its Los Angeles office. In 1988, Mr. Dowling was recruited to become the founding and initial managing partner of the Los Angeles office of the national law firm of Keck, Mahin & Cate headquartered in Chicago), building the office up to nearly 25 attorneys in less than two years’ time. In 1991, he left the Keck firm to pursue a long-time dream of working as a sole practitioner.

Alan Dowling has practiced law continuously in Los Angeles more than thirty five years, and has been a sole practitioner since 1991. He has, for many years, received the top-ranked “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell™, based on peer review, signifying “very high to preeminent legal ability and very high ethical standards as established by confidential opinions from members of the Bar.” Mr. Dowling is admitted to practice before all courts of the State of California, as well as the United States Supreme Court, several federal courts of appeal (including the Ninth Circuit), and several federal district courts (including the Central District of California).

Mr. Dowling began his legal career at the highly-respected Los Angeles firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, renowned in the entertainment field in particular. In the 1980s, Mr. Dowling was a partner (and head of the Entertainment Litigation Group) in the Beverly Hills office of the international law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, headquartered in New York. For a time after the widely-publicized demise of the Finley, Kumble firm, he was Of Counsel to the venerable New York firm of Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin,Krim & Ballon, in its Los Angeles office. In 1988, Mr. Dowling was recruited to become the founding and initial managing partner of the Los Angeles office of the national law firm of Keck, Mahin & Cate headquartered in Chicago), building the office up to nearly 25 attorneys in less than two years’ time. In 1991, he left the Keck firm to pursue a long-time dream of working as a sole practitioner.

	A member of the State Bar of California, Mr. Dowling has actively participated in the State Bar’s Litigation Section, as a member of its Federal Courts Committee, and in the State Bar’s Intellectual Property Section. He has written on a variety of legal topics, lectured at seminars and other professional gatherings, appeared on nationally syndicated television and radio broadcasts (including Celebrity Justice, Court TV and NPR), and many of his cases have received extensive international, national and local news coverage in major newspapers and periodicals, on television and radio, and on the Internet.

Mr. Dowling was one of the founding partners of HardCorps Entertainment LLC, which produced and released recordings by several major recording artists (including also Kid Rock, George Clinton, Brother Marquis of 2 Live Crew, DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill, DJ Godfather, Motley Crue collaborator DJ Larceny, AK1200, Eli Janney of Girls Against Boys, and AMG, among others), including an album that was, for a time, ranked in the top 10% of “Top Sellers in Music” on Amazon.com.

	Mr. Dowling received his J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center in 1976, receiving a University Scholarship. At USC, Mr. Dowling was an Executive Editor of the Southern California Law Review. His law review Note, A Right to Adequate Assurance of Performance in All Transactions: U.C.C. Sec. 2-609 Beyond Sales of Goods, was published in 48 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1358 (1975), and has since been cited approvingly by courts and by legal commentators, while the legal doctrine espoused in the article has been embodied in the Restatement 2d of Contracts. In addition to his formal mediation training (discussed separately in the Mediation Services section of this site), Mr. Dowling has received Certificates from the University of Southern California Law Center, Advanced Professional Program, for post-graduate studies in "The Television Industry: Practical and Business Aspects," "Entertainment Litigation," "Federal Civil Trial Practice," and "Litigation and Settlement of Marital Disputes.

	Mr. Dowling pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, receiving his B.A., cum laude, with Honors in English, in 1973. At UM, he was a student representative on the University Academic Affairs Committee and the English Department Curriculum Committee, and was active in a number of political movements on campus. . As a participant in the College Honors Program, majoring in English literature, he wrote his senior thesis on Ernest Hemingway’s novel Across the River and Into the Trees.

	In the summer of 1972, Mr. Dowling served as a Congressional Intern for Rep. Paul N. “Pete” McCloskey (R-Cal.), an anti-Vietnam War, moderate Republican environmental activist (co-sponsor of the legislation creating Earth Day), who was the only candidate to win a delegate of his own and challenge Richard Nixon at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami. Mr. Dowling co-authored Rep. McCloskey’s proposed “party platform plank” on preventive detention, for presentation at the convention. While in Washington, D.C., Mr. Dowling was present in the courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court the morning the Court announced its decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the landmark case holding that the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Coincidentally, he was also at an outdoor social gathering across the street from the Watergate Hotel at the moment the famous break-in was discovered, and as the police arrived and arrested the burglars. His experiences in Washington motivated Mr. Dowling to pursue a career in the law.

In the summer of 1972, Mr. Dowling served as a Congressional Intern for Rep. Paul N. “Pete” McCloskey (R-Cal.), an anti-Vietnam War, moderate Republican environmental activist (co-sponsor of the legislation creating Earth Day), who was the only candidate to win a delegate of his own and challenge Richard Nixon at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami. Mr. Dowling co-authored Rep. McCloskey’s proposed “party platform plank” on preventive detention, for presentation at the convention. While in Washington, D.C., Mr. Dowling was present in the courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court the morning the Court announced its decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the landmark case holding that the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Coincidentally, he was also at an outdoor social gathering across the street from the Watergate Hotel at the moment the famous break-in was discovered, and as the police arrived and arrested the burglars. His experiences in Washington motivated Mr. Dowling to pursue a career in the law.

	Mr. Dowling graduated cum laude in 1969 from the highly-regarded Cranbrook School, a private preparatory school in Bloomfield Hills, MI, receiving a National Merit Scholarship upon graduation. At Cranbrook, he was Chairman of the 1969 World Affairs Seminar on Student Unrest: Revolution or Rebellion?, served as a tutor in the Horizons-Upward Bound program for disadvantaged inner-city children, and wrote for the school paper and literary publications, in addition to lettering in Varsity Basketball and playing Varsity Tennis. He also helped organize a 1968 on-campus concert by the legendary proto-punk band the MC5, as well as a seven-week tour of Europe and the Soviet Union by a group of more than 20 students in 1967.

Before undertaking the practice of law, during his school years, Mr. Dowling was a golf caddy at Oakland Hills Country Club (Birmingham, MI), site of the U.S. Open and Ryder Cup, for two summers; traveled throughout the United States and abroad; worked on the assembly line and in parts depots at various Ford Motor Company plants in Detroit, MI and was a pipefitter's helper at Shell Oil refineries in Carson/Dominguez Hills, CA.

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