In Levin's first few weeks of law school, he received news that his brother Martin didn't have long to live, succumbing to the end-stages of leukemia. Levin approached the dean of the law school, and asked for a few days away from school to attend his brother's funeral. The dean looked at Levin's undergraduate record, and told him that he could take the time off and that he didn't need to return as he never would make it through law school.