Jason A. Levine represents companies and individuals in a variety of complex business and litigation matters involving contract disputes, fraud, corruption, tax issues, government regulations, restrictive covenants, trade secrets, and business torts.
His clients include private equity firms and their portfolio companies, telecommunications companies, real estate companies, retailers, financial services institutions, professional services firms, entrepreneurs, and other businesses and individuals.
Jason has particular experience with disputes involving privately-held companies. He focuses on matters involving shareholder and partnership disputes, claims of shareholder oppression and breach of fiduciary duties, and complex issues arising from business divorces, including negotiating company valuations and structuring buyouts. As counsel for both privately-held companies and their principals, Jason understands the complex legal, financial and interpersonal issues involved when relationships between business owners deteriorate, and he has successfully navigated their business divorces. He takes a mindful and deliberate approach to every matter, with particular attention to how each strategic decision may affect his clients’ overall business needs and goals.
In recognition of his work, Jason was named a 2020 Lawyer on the Fast Track by the Legal Intelligencer and both a New Leader of the Bar and a New Jersey Trailblazer by the New Jersey Law Journal in 2019. He has been listed as a top Pennsylvania attorney by Super Lawyers magazine (2022) and as a Business Litigation and White Collar Defense “Rising Star” (2014 – 2019).
Jason maintains an active pro bono practice, including representing indigent individuals in both criminal and civil rights matters, and is an active member of several non-profit and community organizations. He serves on the Regional Board of the Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a civil rights organization, and has spearheaded an effort to expand ADL’s critical anti-bias and anti-bullying educational programs in Southern New Jersey. In 2019, he was honored with the ADL’s Daniel R. Ginsberg Leadership Award in recognition of his work with the organization. Recently, Jason accepted an award from the Camden County, New Jersey, Freeholders on behalf of the ADL, recognizing the important work to ADL does in Southern New Jersey. He has also served on the Associates Board of City Year Philadelphia, an organization that helps keep students in school and on track to graduate by bringing together thousands of AmeriCorps volunteers to teach, tutor, and mentor children in the city, and he is a member of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia’s Core Class of 2019, a non-profit organization that mobilizes and connects the talent of the private sector to serve the community.
Inside the firm, Jason is actively involved in the business and strategic planning of the firm. Currently, he chairs the Associate Development Committee, co-chairs the Lateral Shareholder Hiring and Strategic Planning Committees, and serves on the 401(k) Fiduciary and Business Development Committees.
Jason is a 2009 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Comments Editor for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He also received a BA in economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining Hangley Aronchick, Jason worked in the litigation and white collar practice groups of Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC, and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony J. Scirica of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Representative Matters
- Lead counsel to minority shareholder in contentious business divorce involving allegations of mismanagement and shareholder oppression; successfully navigated client’s buyout of majority shareholders and resolved subsequent claims involving misappropriation of confidential company information and unauthorized use of company intellectual property
- Representation of engineering firm and two majority shareholders against minority shareholder who asserted breach of fiduciary duties and violations of shareholder agreement
- Representations of financial institutions and their employees in multiple fast-paced litigations involving enforcement of restrictive covenants and misappropriation of trade secrets and other corporate assets.
- Lead counsel to a large New Jersey real estate investment company in a complex contract and tax dispute.
- Representations of individuals, corporations, and partnerships in connection with investigations arising out of the US Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania involving allegations of bribery and violations of the False Claims Act.
- Representation of pharmaceutical company in retaliation case under the False Claims Act. Successfully moved for summary judgment after discovery.
- Representation of money center bank in connection with multi-jurisdiction investigation involving state, federal, and foreign regulators and enforcement authorities.
- Representation of Chapter 11 Trustee of Estate in bankruptcy tasked with investigating and litigating claims against officers and directors of bankrupt company and third parties.
- Representation of telecommunications company in more than a dozen litigations across Pennsylvania and New Jersey arising out of each state’s 911 Act.
- Representation of former CEO of IndyMac Bank in matters arising out of the government bank takeover, including knocking out all but one claim in SEC’s once wide-ranging securities enforcement case and settling the last remaining claim, without admitting or denying liability, as a negligence-based claim and a commitment to comply with the securities laws; successfully resolving an FDIC lawsuit; and defending and successfully resolving mortgage-backed securities cases and a lawsuit filed by the trustee’s bankruptcy estate litigation.
Representative Pro Bono Matters
- Following evidentiary hearing before the District of New Jersey, obtained writ of habeas corpus from a state court conviction and the vacation of client’s 20-year old conviction and sentence. In her opinion, U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson praised Jason and the Hangley Aronchick team for their “able and vigorous advocacy” and for “play[ing] an integral part in ensuring that justice is fairly meted based on the merits of the arguments rather than the resources of the litigants.” In April 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously affirmed Judge Wolfson’s decision, and the client was subsequently released from prison for the first time in more than two decades.
- Successfully represented prisoner plaintiff pro bono in multiple federal civil rights lawsuits alleging violations of the First and Eighth Amendments, obtaining favorable settlements involving both monetary and injunctive relief.