Keith Fink is an American attorney, author, and academic. He represented clients in a contract dispute with

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

dubbed by the media as "Iggygate". In 2017, Fink became embroiled in a dispute with the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Ca ...

regarding the non-renewal of his contract. 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 Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

and grew up in

Bel Air, California Bel Air (or Bel-Air) is a residential neighborhood on the Los Angeles Westside, in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains in the U.S. state of California. Together with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills, Bel Air forms the Platinum Triangle ...

. He attended

University High School University High School may refer to: Australia * University High School, Melbourne, Victoria Canada * University Hill Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia United States Arizona * University High School (Tolleson) * University High Sc ...

and then went to college at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. Fink has won many debate tournaments. As juniors, Fink and his debate partner Lisa Allred set the single season college debate record for most tournament wins in a year. After college, Fink taught debate at the

Harvard-Westlake School Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. The school has two campuses: the middle school campus in Holmby ...

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. Fink subsequently earned a Juris Doctor degree from

Southwestern Law School Southwestern Law School is a Private university, private Law school in the United States, law school in Los Angeles, California. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks ...

and was admitted to the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law ...

Legal career

Fink began his legal career as an associate attorney at Cotkin, Collins & Franscell. He subsequently joined Kindel & Anderson. Fink later joined

Baker & Hostetler BakerHostetler is an American law firm founded in 1916. One of the firm's founders, Newton D. Baker, was U.S. Secretary of War during World War I, and former Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. History , the firm was ranked the 73rd-largest law firm in the ...

. During Fink's early years as an attorney, he successfully prosecuted numerous 42 U.S.C. § 1983 cases, leading to one that was heard by the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...

in which Fink's client prevailed. Fink's focus has gradually 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 Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

, and

entertainment law Entertainment law, also known as media law, encompasses legal services provided to the entertainment industry. These services often overlap with intellectual property law, which includes key components such as trademarks, copyright, and the right ...

matters.

Teaching

Fink began teaching as an adjunct professor at

in 1993. He taught Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Labor Law, Employment Discrimination, and Pretrial Civil Practice. In the 2007-2008 academic year, Fink stopped teaching at Southwestern Law School and began teaching at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, 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 courses: ''Race, Sex & Politics: Free Speech on Campus''; ''Free Speech in the Workplace''; ''Entertainment Law''; and ''Abortion'', ''Gun Control, and the Death Penalty: Arguing Contemporary Social Issues''. Throughout the first half of 2017, Fink was engaged in an academic freedom dispute with UCLA administrators, leading to

Laura E. Gómez Laura E. Gómez is a professor at the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles where she also holds appointments in Sociology and the Department of Chicana & Chicano Studies and Central American Studies. Education and career ...

(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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Keith Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers California lawyers People associated with BakerHostetler People from Santa Monica, California Southwestern Law School alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni