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L Robert Batterman
Partner

Labor-Management Relations
Sports Law

New York

t: +1.212.969.3010

f: +1.212.969.2900

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Biography

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A partner since 1974, Bob Batterman has considerable experience representing both individual employers and multi-employer groups in union relations and collective bargaining. Much of Bob’s time is spent in day-to-day contact with clients, often in “crisis” situations where a rapid resolution of union-related problems is vital.

Bob is a senior member of our nationally recognized Sports Law Group, serving as labor counsel to the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and the National Football League. He has extensive experience in collective bargaining and related litigation in connection with players and officials, and in various employment law matters.

Bob also is a member of our Lodging & Gaming Group. His experience includes advising clients as to prospective acquisitions, as well as negotiating collective bargaining agreements and successfully arbitrating contract disputes. Bob has extensive experience advising clients that, although covered by a collective bargaining agreement between a multi-employer bargaining group and UNITE HERE, seek confidential imaginative advice concerning that agreement and its implications, which they are not able to obtain through the multi-employer group.

Another important aspect of Bob’s practice is as an advisor at the time of major corporate transactions such as mergers or acquisitions. He consults with clients, private equity funds, investment bankers, or, indeed, other law firms, to evaluate the employee relations and union contract implications of the proposed transaction. Bob guides clients through changes in labor contracts, or to the structure of the transaction itself when necessary to help remove obstacles to completing the transaction and achieving the desired objectives.

Long before “corporate campaigns” became the tactic of choice for unions seeking either representational rights without the risk of a secret ballot election or to force a collective bargaining settlement which they could not achieve either through bargaining or on the picket line, Bob was involved in creating counter-campaigns and the defensive strategizing necessary to neutralize this tactic. Today, after numerous campaigns, Bob’s strategic insights and organizational skills are often sought to assist clients and their teams of consultants and advisors navigate through the smokescreen generated by a union movement seeking to reformulate and reinvigorate itself.

Bob also represents many not-for-profit and educational institutions which have specialized needs and problems in personnel and union relations. In addition to negotiating with more traditional unions, Bob negotiates and has worked with professional unions, including lawyers, museum curators, doctors and faculty members at both the university and secondary school levels.

Bob serves as a member of the Governing Board of the NYU Center for Labor and Employment Law. He also is actively involved on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations and agencies.