About Judd
Judd Funk began his academic path at the University of Utah, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English before returning to the same campus to complete a J.D. at the S.J. Quinney College of Law. His training combined liberal arts and legal study—an early foundation for a career that would move between creative industries and corporate legal practice.
His legal career stretches back to the late 1970s. He entered private practice at Musick, Peeler & Garret in 1978 and took a role at Columbia Pictures two years later. By 1981 he was serving as senior production counsel at Twentieth Century Fox. The 1980s brought a string of in-house positions: vice president at the Programming Satellite Network of America in 1984, general counsel for Riverview Financial Corp., MF Holdings and Mrs. Fields, Inc. in 1986, and vice president and head of legal affairs at Universal Pictures in 1987. Those roles placed him at the intersection of business deals and content production during a period of rapid change in the entertainment industry.
In 1994 he moved to New Line Cinema as senior executive vice president and head of business and legal affairs. That post involved negotiating transactions, clearing rights, and advising on business strategy for a major studio. After decades in corporate legal departments, he shifted part of his career toward the academy and private practice.
In 2011 he joined Chapman University as Professor of the Practice of Entertainment Law, teaching at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law and Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. The appointment brought his studio-side experience into a classroom setting. A year later he became a partner at One LLP Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law Offices, combining teaching with counsel work for clients in media and technology.
He holds current membership in the California State Bar and is a member of the Executive Branch of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences. Those affiliations reflect ongoing ties to both the legal profession and the film community.
He continues to split his time between teaching at Chapman University and practicing law in California. He maintains an active California law license and handles matters in entertainment and intellectual property law while keeping an office at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law.
