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Harry C. Beatty

Senior Partner

Biography

A founding partner of Kent, Beatty & Gordon thirty years ago, Harry has been practicing law for more than four decades. He began his career at a major New York-based firm and then spent eight years at Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., ultimately as Corporate Counsel and assistant secretary. Since 2015, Harry has been named a Super Lawyer for Corporate and Commercial Law by New York Metro Super Lawyers.

At Seagram, Harry's responsibilities included legal matters affecting the consolidated Seagram group throughout the world, including structuring transactions and ventures, and handling SEC and treasury issues, employee relations and benefits, and real estate issues related to the landmarked Seagram Building and other Seagram properties.

Harry's practice today includes the structure, negotiation and closing of sophisticated transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures and ventures both international and national in scope. He has represented clients on diverse transactional matters in Central and South America, Europe and the Far East.

Harry has represented and continues to represent a number of enterprises in the beverage industry, including Davos Brands, an importer and distributor of alcohol beverage products, Clos de los Siete S.A., a Michel Rolland Argentine wine project, Royal Crown Cola, Virgin Cola (USA), the Betty Buzz group of companies (Betty Booze and other brands) and Premium Beverages (Seagram Mixers). He has extensive experience with wine and spirits companies, and for over twenty years has served as principal US counsel for Destileria Serrallés, Inc., the oldest rum producer in Puerto Rico. Harry also has extensive experience with banking and financial institutions, importers and exporters, and manufacturers and distributors, particularly in the packaging industry.

Most recently, Harry has focused his experience in establishing KB&G’s Hemp Group, which offers wide-ranging commercial representation to leading hemp extract producers and purveyors of CBD oil and others in the hemp arena. Harry was a panelist at the International Cannabis Association Expo at the Javits Center in New York City in 2017. He also has visited hemp farms and laboratories in Northern Europe, and has worked on hemp product distribution agreements for Europe, Asia and South America.

Kent, Beatty & Gordon has been named the M&A Law Firm of the Year in New York since 2013 and the Contracts Law Firm of the Year in New York since 2014 by Corporate International Magazine, and the Best for Business Counseling New York for 2015 by AL Legal Awards.

Harry was chosen as the NY Business and Corporate Attorney of the Year in 2017 and 2018, and KBG was named NY M&A Law firm of the Year in 2016 – 2018 and NY Commercial and Arbitration Law Firm of the Year in 2017 and 2018 in the ACQ5 Global Awards.

Harry had his article, "Beware of the Tail Fee: Understanding and Avoiding the Common Pitfalls of Tail Fee Provisions in Investment Banking Agreements," published by the NYSBA.  The article, which he co-wrote with Alex Paradiso, can be found HERE.

Harry is a member of the Hemp Industries Association. He is a Trustee of Caldwell University in New Jersey. He also is an ordained Elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA), a former member of the permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Newark, and the former President, and a former Chairman of the Finance and the Stewardship Committees, of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell, in New Jersey. Harry is also a member of the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a society devoted to excellence in all areas of the hospitality arts. At Harvard Law School, he was a member of the Board of Student Advisors, an honorary society that ran moot court and other competitions and mentored one-L students. For eight years beginning in 2008, he was an elected member of the Essex County, New Jersey, Republican Committee and Chairman of the municipal committee in his home town. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American Bar Association, and is admitted to the New York Bar, and in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

"Nothing is more gratifying than helping clients consider ways to maximize commercial opportunities, and then implementing the chosen solution and structure."