Teamsters Local 399 has a new in-house legal counsel.
The North Hollywood-based union has hired former Netflix senior counsel Kay Kimmel as new in-house counsel and as dedicated counsel for Teamsters’ film and theatrical trade division, secretary-treasurer Lindsay Dougherty announced at a membership meeting on Sunday.
“It’s almost unheard of for lawyers to move from the management side to the working people side,” Dougherty said in a statement. “We feel very fortunate to have Kay joining our team. She has always been an honest and respected lawyer, even when she worked for the employers. Her decades of experience in our industry and deep knowledge of our Local 399 contracts make her a great asset to our members and the division.”
Kimmel spent more than five years at Netflix and previously served as vice president of employment relations at Paramount and Entertainment Partners. Kimmel started her job at Local 399 on May 2 after leaving the streamer in April.
In her new role, Kimmel will assist and assist the Teamsters Local 399 negotiating team with contract enforcement. Local 399 will likely be back in contract negotiations for its “Black Book” deal, which expires July 31, 2024, sometime next year.
Teamsters Local 399 represents more than 6,000 entertainment professionals in California and New Mexico, including drivers, venue managers, casting directors, animal trainers/handlers, and wranglers. The union’s chief official, Dougherty, was an outspoken supporter of the WGA and inter-union solidarity in the entertainment industry during the ongoing writers’ strike. beating these motherfuckers is if we do it together.