Kenneth Ziffren is one of the leading entertainment lawyers in the nation. He teaches two seminars, Motion Picture Distribution (fall semester) and Television Special Issues (spring semester). He is past-Chair and current member of the UCLA School of Law Board of Advisors, Chairman of the Entertainment & Media Law Program, a member of the UCLA Campaign Cabinet, and Founder of the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law.

During law school, Professor Ziffren was editor-in-chief of the UCLA Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. He was a partner of Ziffren & Ziffren from 1967 to 1978, and, in 1979, became the founding partner of the successor law firm of Ziffren Brittenham. He served as a neutral mediator in resolving the Writer’s Guild strike in 1988, acted on behalf of Starz in establishing a premium pay television service in 1994, and served as special outside counsel to the NFL in negotiating contracts with the networks as part of an extensive transactional practice in the entertainment and media industries. Since 2014, he has been the “Film Czar” for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

In addition to his courses and legal articles on entertainment law, Professor Ziffren has lectured at the UCLA and USC entertainment symposia, and annually at the Beverly Hills Bar Association.