Bio

Arthur Yermash is a corporate lawyer who provides practical, business-focused guidance to clients. Since launching his career at CMM over a decade ago, Arthur has directly supported the General Counsel and full legal and business teams for a national retailer, serving as their go-to resource and primary outside counsel on an extraordinarily wide range of business and employment matters. He has also represented Long Island and NYC companies in countless business-related matters and transactions from the routine to the complex, with a particular emphasis on guiding businesses through labor and employment issues from an employer perspective. These roles have enabled Arthur to develop deep experience advising corporate clients on all aspects of their businesses. Arthur chairs the firm’s Cannabis Law practice group, providing critical guidance for cannabis businesses, entrepreneurs, and service providers on a wide range of matters in this emerging market. His work with cannabis businesses includes entity formation and industry-specific agreements, regulatory compliance and licensing, as well as commercial leasing matters and M&A. As employment counsel, Arthur has successfully defended employers in hundreds of investigations before regulatory and government agencies including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. and N.Y.S. Departments of Labor, the N.Y.S. Attorney General’s Office, state and county Human Rights Divisions and Commissions, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). He also counsels clients on critical employment practices and policies regarding hiring, termination, payment of wages, paid and unpaid leave, training, and benefits programs. Arthur also leads the firm’s robust commercial leasing practice. Arthur developed the strategy for the renegotiation of nearly 1,000 commercial leases nationwide for a major retailer at breakneck speed in the early days of the pandemic, a critical hands-on role that ultimately saved the client significant money and gave them the ability to adapt their business plan for unprecedented circumstances. This tenant-side work, coupled with his experience negotiating a wide range of commercial leasing transactions on behalf of landlords, enables Arthur to negotiate creative and effective solutions to lease disputes. His leasing work spans office leases, ground leases, master leases, subleases, triple-net leases, and sale-leaseback throughout Long Island, New York City, and throughout the country. Arthur’s substantial corporate experience also enables him to help clients grow their businesses and footprints by providing solution-focused counsel on asset purchases and sales, stock purchases and sales, and other forms of business sales and acquisitions. Arthur has drafted and negotiated hundreds of contracts for various business-related matters including licensing, supply, financing, and distribution agreements. As part of his corporate focus, he also has significant experience working with nonprofit organizations through startup and development initiatives, routine operational matters, and more complex concerns including compliance, fiduciary responsibility, and board member obligations. Arthur is fluent in Russian.