C James Levin

C. James Levin

Director
Retired, Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP

Mr. Levin has been a member of the board since May 2020.  He brings expertise to the board on legal and regulatory matters. He has provided legal advice as outside counsel on various corporate matters to American States Water Company and its subsidiaries, first as a partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and then as a partner and of counsel at Winston & Strawn LLP. 

Mr. Levin has been a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles, California for over 35 years. In June 2019, he retired from Winston & Strawn LLP where he had practiced as a corporate partner and then of counsel since joining the firm in 2010. Prior to joining that firm, Mr. Levin was a corporate partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, having joined the firm in 1981 as an associate. Mr. Levin specialized in corporate law, including securities, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions. He served as the chair or co-chair of the mergers and acquisitions group of O’Melveny & Myers LLP for a number of years.

He currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Descanso Gardens Guild, Inc., a non-profit corporation dedicated to the support and operation of this public garden in Southern California, and as a director of the Constitutional Rights Foundation, a non-profit corporation supporting civic education initiatives.

Mr. Levin has a BA degree from DePauw University, an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a JD from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.