John lives in the Beverly Park section of Beverly Hills, with Linda, his wife of six years, sons John Connor 4 and Dylan Gregory 2 ½, and daughter Jessica 18.
Barbara Werle, John’s mother, was a show biz mom who won the Harvest Moon Ball and danced on The Ed Sullivan Show. John, his father, was a major league baseball prospect until he was called to serve in the military during WW II. Later he became the New York State Athletic Commissioner and a NY State assemblyman. His uncle, Ralph Branca was the Opening Day pitcher for the Dodgers in the 1947 World Series.
As a teen, Branca started a rock band, The Other Half, playing keyboards and guitar, as well as penning the songs. At 16, the band had a record deal, and occasionally opened for The Doors at the Hullabaloo Club.
John majored in music at Los Angeles City College, but soon realized that his talents were better suited for another field, and enrolled at Occidental College and then UCLA School of Law, receiving his JD degree in 1975. John worked as an estate planner until he read an article in the New York Times about Elton John being represented in legal negotiations by an entertainment lawyer. At that moment, John had an epiphany that that was what he wanted to do.
John began his professional career in 1975 as a corporate lawyer at the firm of Kindel & Anderson. He then joined the entertainment firm of Hardee, Barovic, Konecky, & Braun and subsequently the firm of Ziffren, Brittenham & Gullen in 1981.
Member of the State Bar of California, Beverly Hills (Entertainment Law Section) Bar,
and American Bar (Member, Section of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law) Associations
Editor-in-Chief, UCLA-Alaska Law Review, 1974-1975.
Recipient, Bancroft-Whitney
American Jurisprudence Award, 1974-1975.
Recipient, American Lawyer Entertainment Lawyer of the Year Award
Author: "Attorney Fee
Schedules and Legal Advertising: The Implications of Goldfarb," 24
UCLA Law Review 475-522, 1977, and numerous other articles.
John also regularly participates in numerous professional and law school panels and seminars
on the entertainment industry.
