Benjamin Kim

Practice Areas

Benjamin Kim is a partner and the deputy practice group leader in Nixon Peabody’s Labor & Employment group and chairs the firm’s Occupational Safety & Health (OSHA) practice. He represents clients in a range of industries in employment and labor matters in both federal and state court litigation. He also counsels employers on a wide variety of employment issues.

Career

I focus my practice in the following areas:

Occupational Safety and Health

I regularly represent clients in complying with federal and state workplace safety and health laws and during government safety inspections of the workplace as well as investigations of workplace accidents, particularly those involving fatalities and serious injuries. I represent and defend clients in pursuing appeals of citations and other enforcement actions by government agencies such as the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the U.S. Department of Labor (including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration).

Employment Litigation

By devising creative legal strategies designed to add value in litigation, I strive to achieve results efficiently. My work involves representing and defending clients in employment-related litigation, including cases alleging wage-and-hour violations, discrimination, wrongful termination, workplace harassment, disability accommodation, and retaliation. I have defended employers in class-actions, representative actions and lawsuits filed by single and multiple plaintiffs in both California state and federal courts. I also have represented employers in investigations and other actions by government agencies such as the California Department of Industrial Relations (including the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement), the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the U.S. Department of Labor. By devising creative legal strategies designed to add value in litigation, I strive to achieve results efficiently.

Advice and Counseling

I counsel and represent companies and nonprofit organizations in actions and investigations brought by various state and federal agencies. I provide advice on various labor and employment issues as well as personalized training for employers on a variety of topics, such as sexual harassment prevention, workplace safety and health issues, and wage and hour compliance.

Esports Initiative

Our esports team focuses on finding innovative solutions to the growing needs of clients involved in highly competitive video gaming that, with its explosive growth and cross-industry reach, present new and complicated legal challenges. We have dozens of attorneys from multiple offices and practice areas working with esports clients in a variety of areas such as merchandising and manufacturing agreements, employment and the use of independent contractors, compliance with gambling and other regulatory compliance and IP licensing issues.

Professional Memberships

• American, Korean American, Los Angeles County, and National Asian Pacific American bar associations

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice—Orange County

• Asian Rehabilitation Service, Inc.

• Berkeley Korean-American Alumni Association

Personal

University of Arizona, B.A., summa cum laude

University of California, Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall, J.D.