JOSEPH A. KOHANSKI, JR. joined the firm after clerkship with the Honorable Alan B. Handler, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, during which he specialized in capital punishment cases.  He has been a partner since 1994. 

In addition to labor law practice, he represents unions as creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, workouts and other insolvency scenarios.  As bankruptcy/workout counsel to the film industry’s entertainment Guilds and their related pension and health plans, he has participated in dozens of film industry bankruptcies across the country, through which the Guilds have collected tens of millions of dollars and arranged for continuing payment of post-bankruptcy residuals on many hundreds of motion pictures.

In resolving client problems he synthesizes elements of labor, bankruptcy and entertainment law, the Uniform Commercial Code and the Copyright Act, including use of security interests and other techniques toward increased collection of residuals and benefit plan contributions, and such legislative approaches as Section 406 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (28 U.S.C. §4001), and Section 9-321 of the Uniform Commercial Code.  He has appeared in litigation and labor arbitrations concerning many diverse issues, and authored a series of amicus curiae briefs concerning performer rights of privacy and publicity.  He has also worked with unions confronting bankruptcy problems in agriculture, airline, and the construction industries.

Recent national presentations include three American Bar Association Business Bankruptcy Committee panels throughout 2003, and the 2005 Conference of the AFL-CIO Lawyers’ Coordinating Committee.  He is a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the Financial Lawyers Conference, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and various Labor Law, Bankruptcy or Intellectual Property Sections of the American, California and Los Angeles County Bar Associations.

Prior to law school, Mr. Kohanski was a trombonist and arranger specializing in Brazilian music and Latin jazz, and toured or recorded with commercial artists ranging from Blondie to Teddy Pendergrass.