Kimberly B. Herman

Kim is a corporate attorney with a focus on contract negotiation and intellectual property. She leads Sullivan's Intellectual Property, Technology and Media & Entertainment Groups. Her practice spans the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Kim’s practice is varied and extensive and includes advising clients on numerous issues relating to licensing, copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. She also has specialized expertise in business strategy and negotiating in-bound and out-bound transactions and drafting related agreements for a wide range of commercial deals and litigation settlements in the media and entertainment, software (including open source, SaaS and business software platforms) and life sciences industries.

Kim is also well-versed in providing legal advice concerning the ever-changing state and federal laws applicable to online sports betting, online gambling and fantasy sports including the representation of a billion-dollar multi-national gaming and lottery services company in connection with its licensed content deals. Kim’s gaming clients include IGT, Bally’s Corporation and Novomatic.

On any given day, Kim may go from working on a film production agreement for a streaming platform in the morning to a clinical trial agreement for a life sciences or medical device company in the afternoon to evaluating state gaming regulations in the evening.

As acting General Counsel for a Series C funded technology company in Boston, Kim has also become well-versed in juggling the multitude of legal issues that GCs face on a daily basis. This experience has reinforced her ability to provide innovative and efficient solutions to her clients.

In particular, Kim’s practice focuses on structuring and negotiating complex commercial transactions dealing with media and entertainment (including representation of clients in the news, documentary, motion picture and cable network industries), First Amendment and privacy issues, gaming, sanctioned gambling and e-sports, software, music and art on behalf of leading media, entertainment, technology and consumer-products companies, as well as filmmakers, project financiers, artists, museums and art galleries. This representation extends to Kim assisting her clients in exploiting their brands, content and programming into different markets and entertainment distribution platforms through a variety of licensing, merchandising, publishing, sponsorship, agency and endorsement deals.

Kim conducts audits and provides strategic counseling to assist clients in identifying, protecting and exploiting key intellectual property assets and represents clients in a wide variety of trademark and copyright enforcement and defense matters. In addition, she advises clients in responding to claims of infringement of adversely held trademarks and copyrights, prepares and responds to cease and desist letters regarding the same, and provides advice on litigation, litigation settlements and mediation.

Kim has been ranked in World Trademark Review 1000, The World's Leading Trademark Professionals each year since 2015. Clients describe her as "incredibly responsive" and "always looking out for your company's interest." She has also been recognized in the WTR's Global Leaders Guide, which identifies the "best of the best" in trademark practice. In 2021, Kim was named a “Go To IP Lawyer” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Kim is a guest speaker at Northeastern University in Boston, where she speaks on developments in intellectual property law, copyright, fair use and First Amendment issues. She completed the courses "Museums and the Law;" "Museum Exhibition Content Development;" "History of Museums;" and "Collections Management: Issues and Solutions" at Harvard University.