Leslie S. Klinger has devoted his legal career to the practices of estate planning, taxation and business Law. As co-founder of Kopple and Klinger in 1992, Les has counseled thousands of clients on matters involving family wealth planning, business succession planning, taxation, and general and complex business transactions. Involved in the entertainment industry himself, many of Les’s clients stem from the music, motion picture and television industries where he has developed an expertise in understanding their unique priorities, needs and goals.

Prior to co-founding Kopple and Klinger in 1992, Les headed the tax department for the Los Angeles office of a top national law firm. Before that, he chaired the tax department of one of the largest L.A. firms and served on its management committee.

Professional Associations and Memberships:

• Board of Directors, Live Current Media, Inc. (OTC LIVC), 2022- (Chair, Governance Committee)
• Chairman: UCLA Entertainment Tax Institute (1988 and 1989)
• Vice President, Motion Picture and Television Tax Institute
• Member, Advisory Board of Editors, Entertainment Law Reporter
• Member: Beverly Hills Bar Association (Chairman, Tax Committee, 1975-1976; Member, Board of Governors, The Barristers, 1974-1976)
• Member: Los Angeles County Bar Association (Secretary, Entertainment Tax Committee, 1997-1998)
• American Bar Association (Member: Section of Taxation; Committee on Corporate Stockholders Relationships, 1974-1975)
• Member, Tax Section of the State Bar of California
• American Arbitration Association (Arbitrator, 1992-1995)
• Board of Directors, Mystery Writers of America (2006-2009); Chapter President, SoCal Chapter (2006-2009)
• Treasurer, Horror Writers Association (2011-2021 ); Board of Trustees (2010-20211)

Noteworthy:

• Author, Estate and Financial Planning for the Closely Held Business, Practicing Law Institute (1977-1987)
• Editor, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (W.W. Norton, 2004 and 2005), and winner of the Edgar® Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work, 2005; editor, Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s and winner of the Edgar® Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work, 2019. . Essayist-reviewer, Playboy Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, Times (London), Daily Beast, Los Angeles Review of Books. Series editor, Library of Congress Crime Classics, 2019- .
• Instructor, UCLA Extension (Writers’ Program), Sherlock Holmes and His World; Dracula and His World (2002-2016)