KM&M maintains practices in New York City and Los Angeles. From our East Coast and West Coast locations, we represent clients throughout the country. When our work takes us to jurisdictions other than New York and California, we sometimes call upon our extensive contacts and relationships with other law firms nationwide to assist us as local counsel. Please contact our offices.

Industry Practice Areas – Labor and Employment

Entertainment, Sports, and the Arts

KM&M’s practice in the fields of entertainment, sports, and the arts uniquely combines services in the traditional facets of labor and employment law with a highly specialized leadership role in entertainment industry labor relations. This dynamic practice includes:

Counseling and representing broadcast television, cable television and radio networks, and standalone broadcasting stations; counseling and representing theater producers, independent producers of content for broadcast, cable and public television and producers of content for convergent television and internet technologies, concerning all issues arising from the employment of performers, writers, directors, and technical personnel, including  the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements with labor unions representing these employees and the negotiation of personal services agreements governing key employees;

Counseling and representing employers operating entertainment and sports venues in their relationships with labor unions concerning all issues arising from the employment of stagehands, ticket sellers, ticket takers, ushers, security guards, custodians, operating engineers and electricians, including negotiating collective bargaining agreements governing the terms and conditions under which those employees are employed.

Representing all of our entertainment, sports, and arts clients in labor arbitrations and National Labor Relations Board proceedings;

KM&M’s clients in the fields of entertainment, sports, and arts include: Paramount Global (CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, CMT, TV Land, Spike TV, Nick Jr., LOGO, Comedy Central); NBC Universal; Netflix Studios; A&E Television Networks; AMC Networks; E! Entertainment Television; iHeart Media; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Spotify Group; Sesame Workshop; Thirteen-WNET New York/New Jersey Public Television; WETA Washington Public Television; WGBH Boston Public Television; Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc.; WOR Radio; WQXR Radio; NPR; NYC Public Radio; New York Yankees; Jazz at Lincoln Center; the American Ballet Theatre; Carnegie Hall; Lincoln Center; Madison Square Garden; Madison Square Garden Network; The Beacon Theatre; Radio City Music Hall; the Electronic Media Associations; and Seattle Arena Co.

Not-for-Profit and Education

Educational institutions and other not-for-profit organizations tend to be heavily unionized and their collective bargaining relationships raise unique economic and non-economic issues, particularly in the area of job security (in education, for example, the concept of tenure). In addition, internal committees and Boards of Directors often heavily influence the decision making process in educational and not-for-profit institutions; as a result, and because these institutions often depend for their existence upon maintaining public support, decisions in the area of labor and employment relations receive special scrutiny and must take account of both the views of diverse constituencies and of public relations concerns.

Some of KMM’s educational and not-for-profit clients are ACLU; Non-Traditional Employment for Women (NEW); Goodwill; Human Rights First; Cardinal McCloskey Services; Center for Reproductive Rights; Columbia University; Brigham Young University; Pace University; and Fordham University.

Maritime

With decades of experience representing companies engaged in the maritime transportation of passengers and freight, KM&M has developed an unparalleled expertise in the intersection of labor law and maritime law. Over the past 20 years the maritime industry has seen dramatic shifts in the balance of power between unions and management, and KM&M and our clients have been at the forefront of these developments.

The firm represents all of the most visible maritime passenger and tourism companies in New York harbor and vicinity including Circle Line Sightseeing, World Yacht, and New York Waterway in both employment law and traditional labor matters.

KM&M also represents the most prominent and visible tugboat and barge companies operating along the entire East Coast and in the Caribbean in their negotiations and relationships with unions such as the Seafarers International Union, the International Longshoremen’s Union and the Masters, Mates and Pilots.

Construction

The construction industry is among the most heavily unionized industries in all of American commerce, and KM&M’s knowledge of the industry is unparalleled. We represent major construction firms operating in the New York Metropolitan Area in a wide range of traditional labor and employment matters including the negotiation of project labor agreements central to this practice. We also represent the Contractors’ Association of Greater New York, Inc. (CAGNY), a consortium of the major New York-area construction companies, in a variety of matters involving multi-employer issues and labor issues of common concern to the industry as a whole.

KM&M’s construction clients include: The Contractors’ Association of Greater New York, Inc. (CAGNY); Lendlease (US) Construction LMB Inc.; Plaza Construction LLC; Turner Construction Company; Cauldwell Wingate Company, LLC; Pavarini McGovern; Hunter Roberts Construction Group; Insulation Contractors Association of New York City, Inc; The Association of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York, Inc.; and the Building Trades Employers Association.

Telecommunications

Bridging the landline communications systems of traditional telephone companies and the digital, fiber-optic voice and data communications that are the lifeblood of the new economy, today’s world of telecommunications is among the most competitive in American commerce. KM&M has been at the forefront of this industry for many years, negotiating collective bargaining agreements across the United States for companies that manufacture, sell and maintain business and consumer telephone systems, and counseling and representing industry employers on a variety of labor and employment matters. Currently, KM&M works closely with leaders in the wireless communications sector to maintain operational flexibility where the retailing of wireless equipment and services to end users, both consumer and business, demands cutting-edge efficiency and productivity.

KM&M’s clients in the field of telecommunications include Charter Communications and Altice.

Digital and Print Journalism

Over the past few years we have experienced an explosion in union organizing in digital and print journalism. Both the Writers Guild of America and the Newspaper Guild and to some extent SAG-AFTRA have succeeded in organizing both creative content and administrative employees.  Businesses operating in this area are mostly relative newcomers and have attracted a socially active workforce that brings its own unique challenges to collective bargaining. KM&M has developed extraordinary expertise in how this industry works and what is important to protect management rights.

Among KM&M’s clients in this industry are: Conde-Nast (The New Yorker, Ars Technica), Vox Media, Vice Media, New York Magazine, Slate, Hearst Publications and The Daily Beast.

Industry Practice Areas – Immigration and Nationality

Financial Services

KM&M represents firms and institutions that provide a broad range of financial services to commercial and retail customers throughout the United States and globally.  We represent and counsel private equity firms, hedge funds, banks, and other financial services companies concerning the full range of nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories.  Based on decades of experience, immigration attorneys at KM&M understand, and skillfully address, the needs of clients who work in this fast-paced, ever changing, and demanding area.

The firm’s financial services clients include, among others:  EQT Partners Inc.; SanPalo Investment Corporation; Sagard Capital Partners Management Corp.; Banking Circle US Holding Inc.; and Insight Partners.

Legal Services

Multi-national law firms who represent clients in connection with cross-border transactions and other international legal matters often seek to employ foreign lawyers with knowledge of overseas markets.  Many of these law firms recruit at law schools to identify talented foreign students who require sponsorship for work visas.  Top-tier law firms facing fierce competition for the best-qualified attorneys rely on KM&M’s skillful and efficient handling of visa petitions and applications on behalf of their valuable professional workforce.

KM&M’s clients in the legal services industry include:  Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Dentons; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; among others.

Food and Beverage

KM&M represents many clients in the food and beverage industries, including restaurants, food manufacturers, and distributors of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.  Employers in these fields require the services of highly-skilled foreign workers to address operational needs in a variety of areas, such as information technology, accounting, finance, and marketing.  Additionally, multi-national companies operating in these and other industries often seek to transfer foreign-based employees to the United States in order to streamline or enhance operations in specific departments.  Our attorneys guide in-house counsel and human resources managers with respect to these and other immigration-related legal matters.

Some of KM&M’s clients in the food and beverage, food manufacturing, and agribusiness industries include:  Four Sigma Foods, Inc.; Louis Dreyfus Company LLC; Breakthru Beverage Group; Empire Merchants LLC; MAFCO Worldwide Corporation; AAK USA; and Bluestone Lane.

Arts & Entertainment

Immigration attorneys at KM&M represent and counsel numerous employers in the arts and entertainment industries.  Our practice in this area frequently involves visa petitions and applications on behalf of extraordinary actors, artists, dancers, athletes, and others seeking to perform in the United States.  Our attorneys have a long and successful record of securing visas on behalf of renowned performers and other highly talented individuals from around the world.

The firm’s clients in arts and entertainment include, among others:  Universal Orlando; Richard Frankel Productions, Inc.; American Ballet Theatre; and Universal Music Group.

Media and Communications

KM&M’s clients include businesses that operate in both traditional and digital media, including television, publishing, social media, film, and music.  Our immigration lawyers provide a full range of services, in both nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories, to international media companies and assist them to navigate complex regulatory requirements relating to the employment of foreign workers.

Some of the firm’s media and communications clients include:  Horizon Media; Penguin Random House LLC; ACast Stories Inc.; Springer Nature America, Inc.; Epidemic Sound; and Vivendi Holdings.

Other Industries

KM&M’s immigration attorneys represent clients in a broad spectrum of other industries.  This includes companies in the consumer sector (Revlon, Inc.; Elizabeth Arden, Inc.; Patek Philippe), information technology (WEX Inc.; AppDirect, Inc.); education (TheraCare of New York; New Visions for Public Schools); and artificial intelligence (BenevolentAI).