Keith Fink

Keith Fink is an American attorney, author, and academic. He represented a business in a contract dispute with Ellen DeGeneres dubbed by the media as "Iggygate".[1]

Keith Fink
Born
Santa Monica, California
Education
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
OccupationAttorney, author, academic
Websitewww.finklawfirm.com

In 2017, Fink became embroiled in a dispute with the University of California at Los Angeles regarding the importance of free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity in the collegiate setting.

Fink is the author of two books: Free Speech in the Workplace and Sex, Politics, and Race: Free Speech on Campus.

Biography

Keith Fink was born in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in Bel Air, California. He attended University High School and then went to college at the University of California, Los Angeles.[2] Fink won dozens of debate tournaments throughout the country.[3] Fink and his debate partner Lisa Allred set the single season college debate record for most tournament wins in a year while juniors.[3]

After college, Fink taught debate at the Harvard School while also editing a college debate handbook called Fink's Files, which provided analysis and arguments on the yearly college debate topic. Fink also taught Speech at Stephen S. Wise Temple.[3]

Fink subsequently earned a Juris Doctor degree Southwestern Law School and was admitted to the State Bar of California.[4]

Fink began his legal career as an associate attorney at Cotkin, Collins & Franscell. He subsequently joined Kindel & Anderson. Fink later joined Baker & Hostetler.[5] During Fink's early years as an attorney, he successfully litigated numerous 42 U.S.C. § 1983 cases, leading to one that was heard by the Supreme Court of California in which Fink's client prevailed.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Fink's focus expanded to labor, employment, business, and commercial litigation. In March 1997, Fink founded Keith A. Fink & Associates, a boutique litigation firm that primarily handles employment discrimination law, labor, business, civil rights, and entertainment law matters. Fink litigates cases in both state and federal courts throughout California.

Teaching

Fink began teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Southwestern Law School in 1993. He taught Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Labor Law, Employment Discrimination, and Pretrial Civil Practice.[13]

In the 2007-2008 academic year, Fink stopped teaching at Southwestern Law School and began teaching at UCLA, his alma mater. For the next decade, Fink's teaching focused on the First Amendment, freedom of speech, employment law, entertainment law, and debate. Fink designed and taught four[14] courses: Race, Sex & Politics: Free Speech on Campus; Free Speech in the Workplace; Entertainment Law;[15] and Abortion, Gun Control, and the Death Penalty: Arguing Contemporary Social Issues.[16][17]

Fink's classes were generally well-received by students; with some describing his classes as among the "most influential and developmentally-important classes they've taken at UCLA."[18][19]

Throughout the first half of 2017, Fink was engaged in an academic freedom dispute with UCLA administrators, leading to Laura E. Gómez (the former Dean of Social Sciences) opting not to promote him to Continuing Lecturer, effectively ending his employment with the Department of Communication Studies on June 30, 2017.[20]

References
  1. Tresniowski, Alex (November 5, 2007), "A Dog Gone Shame", People, vol. 68 no. 19
  2. "UCLA Communication Studies". www.commstudies.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  3. "Room For Debate - Keith A. Fink". www.roomfordebate.info. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  4. "Attorney Licensee Profile: Keith Allen Fink". 22 Jun 2019. Retrieved 22 Jun 2019.
  5. "Baker | The American Lawyer". www.americanlawyer.com. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
  6. "Williams v. Superior Court, 852 P.2d 377 (Cal. 1993)".
  7. "Romberg v. Nichols 953 F.2d 1152 (9th Cir.)".
  8. "Credit Managers Association v. Kennesaw Life Ins., 25 F.3d 743 (9th Cir 1994)".
  9. "Wilks v. Reyes, 5 F.3d 412 (9th Cir. 1993)".
  10. "Alliance Ins. Co. v. Colella, 995 F.2d 944 (9th Cir. 1993)".
  11. "Brooks v. Cook, 938 F.2d 1048 (9th Cir. 1991)".
  12. "Grant-Burton v. Covenant Care, 99 Cal. App. 4th 1361 (2002)".
  13. "Faculty Guide" (PDF), Southwestern Law School, 2007, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-12-13, retrieved 2012-04-02
  14. UCLA Media, Daily Bruin (2017), Keith Fink Bruinwalk Reviews
  15. "COMM ST 164 - Entertainment Law". UCLA Department of Communication Studies. 2015-09-07. Archived from the original on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  16. "COMM ST 184 - Abortion, Gun Control, and the Death Penalty". UCLA Communication Studies. 2016-08-09. Archived from the original on 2015-09-07.
  17. "UCLA Communications Department", UCLA, 2010
  18. Litt, Andrew. "At UCLA, free speech is suppressed and double standards reign". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  19. "Student Evaluation of Teaching, ("Teach tolerance without imposing tolerance")" (PDF). 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2017-09-10.
  20. Brown, Sarah (July 1, 2017), "Why Did a UCLA Instructor With a Popular Free-Speech Course Lose His Job?", Chronicle of Higher Education
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