by Suzi Morales
In June 2024, Neil Getnick ’78 received the Southern Christian Leadership Council of Southern California’s Beloved Community Award for his work in negotiating a union contract with workers at the famed Los Angeles hotel Chateau Marmont. Getnick received the honor jointly with hotel owner André Balazs, and Kurt Petersen, UNITE HERE! Local 11 co-president, in recognition of their collaborative efforts to resolve a contentious labor dispute.
The award is named for the Beloved Community, a vision fostered by Martin Luther King Jr. for a society based on justice, equal opportunity, and love for one’s fellow human beings.
In some ways, the agreement was a departure from the norm for Getnick, who says he is “not a labor lawyer.” In other meaningful ways, the award represents a continuation of a commitment to social justice dating back to his time at Cornell Law School.
A History of Advocacy
According to Getnick, he wanted to become a lawyer “only since the age of four.” He had grown up talking about legal issues at the dinner table with his father Irving Getnick.
L to R: Andre T. Balazs, owner, Chateau Marmont hotel; Pastor William D. Smart Jr., president and CEO of SCLC-SC; Kurt Petersen, co-president, UNITE HERE Local 11; and Neil V. Getnick, managing partner, Getnick Law.
Getnick attended Cornell University, earning his undergraduate degree in government in 1975, followed immediately by Cornell Law. In both undergraduate and law school, he was active in campus government and social activism. In law school, he was a member of the Board of Trustees. In this role, he advocated
for greater transparency in university investments, particularly in businesses in South Africa, which was then under a regime of apartheid.
After law school, Getnick worked for four years in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office before partnering with his father to form a law firm. Today, he is the managing partner of that firm, Getnick Law. His practice focuses largely on representing whistleblowers in False Claims Act cases and other whistleblower programs. In addition to representing whistleblowers, the firm also specializes in anti-fraud investigations and litigation, and business integrity counseling and monitoring.
When he was campaigning to be a student trustee, Getnick met Balazs, a fellow Cornell student and a member of the University Senate. The two became friends and worked together on social justice issues at the university. According to Getnick, they also collaborated in the 1990s in an effort to free imprisoned Kenyan political dissident Koigi wa Wamwere, a Cornell classmate. Getnick helped spearhead the efforts of others in the Cornell community to lobby for Wamwere’s freedom and also spoke before a congressional human rights committee. According to Getnick, Balazs, who by that time was a hotelier, provided financial support to the campaign and also welcomed Wamwere as a hotel guest after he won his freedom.
Getnick’s connection to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has its roots in the effort to free Wamwere, who was released from prison in December 1996. Getnick says leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference including John Lewis and Jesse Jackson were active in the cause. According to Getnick, Jackson played a role in securing Wamwere’s freedom and Lewis helped launch a Kenyan high school scholarship program after Wamwere’s release.
Finding Common Ground
Balazs purchased Hollywood landmark Chateau Marmont in the 1990s. Getnick says he has represented Balazs and his business over the years, including in the middle of a labor dispute with hotel employees sparked by covid-related layoffs and allegations of discrimination.
The dispute began contentiously, with workers picketing, lawsuits filed, and high-profile celebrity boycotts. Eventually, the SCLC-SC got involved. In mid-2022, Getnick was invited to a meeting that included Balazs, Pastor William Smart Jr., the president and chief executive officers of SCLC-SC, and Petersen, the union co-president. Getnick notes that his own ties to the SCLC also helped form common ground. “We very quickly realized that all of us had a shared background, shared values, shared vision, and a shared mission,” he says. “And once that became clear from the outset, everything proceeded very smoothly.”
Because he was not a labor lawyer, Getnick says, “We avoided a formulaic adversarial response, but rather approached the situation with open hearts and minds.”
In late 2022, the union and the hotel agreed to a contract that reportedly includes wage increases, health insurance, and legal services for immigration and other issues. According to the union’s website, the agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by members and “sets a new standard for boutique hotels.” Furthermore, the hotel, the union, and the SCLC-SC have now formed an alliance continuing to advance social and economic justice issues together.
While the dispute was somewhat outside the scope of Getnick’s everyday law practice, he says he was guided in this case by his motto “good conduct is good business.” “Doing the right thing became incorporated into the business model and in the end, whether it’s a labor negotiation or an internal investigation and litigation or a whistleblower case, that’s what we’re always striving for,” he remarks.
Getnick was also selected as a finalist for New York Law Journal’s Innovation 2024 Award in connection with his work on the Chateau Marmont labor agreement.
“That was a high point in my life,” Getnick says of receiving the Beloved Community Award, which he received jointly with Balazs and the union co-president. “The Beloved Community is the culminating vision of Dr. King and the society he envisioned so to receive that award from the SCLC, having had a relationship with Reverend Jackson and the Hon. John Lewis, that was very meaningful to me.”
