K.J. Greene is a native New Yorker, a former U.S. Marine and a graduate of Yale Law School. Greene clerked for the Michigan Supreme Court following graduation from Yale, He then practiced law in New York at Cravath, Swaine and Moore, as well as at the entertainment boutique of Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein and Selz. Greene has represented clients such as Time-Warner/HBO, film director Spike Lee, the rap group Public Enemy and singer Bobby Brown.
Greene joined the faculty of Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego in 1997, and teaches Contracts, Entertainment Law and Music Law. He has published extensively on intellectual property issues, including copyright, trademark and rights of publicity. In 2005, Greene was selected by peers in the San Diego IP bar as one of the top ten attorneys in Intellectual Property in San Diego county. Greene's 2008 article in Chapman Law Review entitled "Intellectual Property Expansion---the Good, the Bad and the Right of Publicity" was selected by Thompson-West as one of the best intellectual property articles of the year.