We have significant experience in advising public and private businesses and individuals on a wide variety of matters involving qualified and non-qualified employee benefit plans, executive compensation and employment law. The lawyers in our employee benefits and executive compensation practice area are well integrated into our other practice areas and also advise our clients on tax matters, securities law compliance, financial institution regulation and mergers and acquisitions issues related to employee benefits and executive compensation.

Our work with benefit plans includes the design, drafting, implementation, administration and termination of welfare benefit plans and retirement plans. We have extensive experience working with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), 401(k) plans and pension plans. We provide advice on compliance with ERISA, prohibited transactions and tax matters relating to benefit plans. We also assist our clients in creating non-qualified plans for employees and directors.

Our executive compensation work includes representing executives and employers in negotiating, designing and drafting employment agreements, change in control severance agreements, bonus programs and a variety of deferred compensation arrangements. We work with both public and private companies to design and implement equity-based compensation programs, such as stock option plans and restricted stock plans. We also have significant experience handling compensation programs funded by bank-owned life insurance (BOLI).

Our work on executive compensation and benefit plans also extends to advising clients on issues of compliance with federal and state securities laws, including registration requirements and proxy statement disclosures. The lawyers in our employee benefits and executive compensation practice area work closely with the lawyers in our mergers and acquisitions practice, assisting in due diligence reviews of compensation arrangements and benefit plans of acquisition targets, analyzing the application of golden parachute tax regulations, and structuring the transaction terms relating to existing and prospective benefit plans and employment arrangements.

We handle a wide range of employment law matters, including: recruitment, employment and discharge of personnel; compliance with laws regarding wages and hours; family and medical leave; personnel polices and procedures; and employment arbitration. We also handle issues related to employment discrimination and sexual harassment (such as prevention and education programs) and employment termination (such as severance arrangements and releases).