Arthur Yermash is a business and corporate lawyer who provides practical, business-focused guidance to clients.

Arthur leads the firm’s robust commercial leasing practice, focusing on advising owners, tenants, and brokers on all aspects of commercial leasing matters.  His leasing work spans office leases, commercial and retail leases, ground leases, master leases, subleases, triple-net leases, and sale-leaseback transactions throughout Long Island, New York City, and around the country.  Arthur also works with large and small retailers to optimize national and regional retail lease portfolios resulting in enterprise rent savings and other favorable lease terms.  He has been instrumental in developing strategies for the renegotiation of thousands of commercial leases for nationally recognized retailers, including negotiating and amending nearly 900 leases at breakneck speed in the early days of the pandemic, as well negotiating thousands of leases for numerous distressed retailers under pressure from creditors as well as in connection with bankruptcy proceedings. 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 in complex commercial lease environments.

Since launching his career at CMM almost 20 years ago, Arthur has directly supported the General Counsel and full legal and business teams of a national, vertically integrated retailer and wholesaler, 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. These roles have enabled Arthur to develop deep experience advising corporate clients on all aspects of their businesses.

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.

Beyond commercial real estate and business advisory work, Arthur represents businesses and individuals in the commercial cannabis space as well as on labor and employment matters.

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 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.

Arthur is fluent in Russian.

Education

• Baruch College-The City University of New York Macaulay Honors College, B.B.A.
• Touro Law, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, J.D.

Admissions

• New York

In the News

• CMM Closes Prime Commercial Real Estate Sale of NJ Shopping Center
• CMM’s Arthur Yermash Highlighted in LIBN Who’s Who: Commercial & Residential Real Estate Law
• Yermash Quoted in Newsday Regarding the New Law Widening Employer Exposure to Old Sexual Assault Claims
• CMM’s Yermash Highlighted in LIBN Who’s Who 2022: Labor Law
• Yermash Interviewed by Law360 on CMM’s Cannabis Law Practice
• DOL Investigation Closed with No Fines or Penalties for CMM Client
• CMM Continues Meteoric Growth with Opening of Riverhead Office
• CMM Named a Forbes “Top Corporate Law Firm”
• Thomas and Yermash Recognized by Herald Community Newspapers as Top Lawyers of Long Island
• CMM Celebrates Grand Opening of Westbury Office with Ribbon-Cutting Attended by Long Island Leaders
• More...
Partner Spotlight: Q&A with Arthur Yermash
Campolo, Middleton & McCormick Expands Across the Spine of Long Island with Nassau County Office
Yermash and Basso Named CMM Partners
CMM Represents Star Communications in Acquisition, Creating Largest Independent Print Services Firm on Long Island
Levy and Yermash Win Leadership in Law Awards from Long Island Business News
CMM Represents Bissett Nursery and Bissett Equipment in Sale to SiteOne Landscape Supply
CMM Represents RSI Equipment, Inc. in Sale

Articles

• Navigating Your Commercial Lease Agreement During Inflation
• NYSDOL Issues New Guidance on Adult Use Cannabis and the Workplace
• NYS Appoints Cannabis Regulators, Moving Closer to Licensing Regulations
• Hochul Activates NY HERO Act: What Should Employers Do Now?
• What Employers Need to Know About the New Federal Vaccine Mandate
• What Employers Need to Know about HERO Act Obligations
• Shareholder Liability for Unpaid Wages

Representative Matters

• CMM completes retail lease portfolio optimization and transformation of a regional retailer – December 1, 2025
• CMM advises distressed national pharma retailer in connection with the renegotiation of hundreds of retail leases – March 1, 2024
• CMM advises distressed national retailer in connection with the renegotiation of hundreds of retail lease – June 1, 2023

Lectures & Presentations

Long Island Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, “Cannabis Fraud Risk”

Stony Brook Small Business Development Center, “Navigating Your Commercial Lease Agreement During Inflation”

Entrepreneurs Across America Restaurant Coalition, “Cannabis Law for the Hospitality Industry”

Miller Business Center, “Into the Weeds of New York’s Emerging Cannabis Industry”

CMM CLE Series, “Cannabis Update”

CMM CLE Series, “Employment Litigation Case Study”