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Godfrey & Kahn, We Think Business

Employee Benefits

Employee Benefits

Our attorneys help clients manage complex benefit plan issues with guidance that leverages applicable laws and minimizes legal risks. Trust our counsel on benefit plan issues that occur with mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, and during daily operations.

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Employee Benefits

Competitive Benefits Attract Top Talent

A sophisticated employee benefits attorney helps control spiraling costs and administrative complexities that often arise for employers.

The laws that govern benefit plans can confuse even the most diligent and careful employer. As a result, employers must receive quality legal advice to understand and take advantage of the applicable benefits laws while minimizing legal risks.

Navigating Benefit Complexities

Our employee benefits practice counsels employers, retirement plan fiduciaries, tax-exempt entities, financial institutions, and benefit plan service providers in all aspects of retirement and welfare benefits laws, including the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, COBRA, and HIPAA.

With clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses, we have extensive experience managing sophisticated benefit plan issues that arise every day, and we devote a significant portion of our practice to issues that arise during bankruptcies and mergers and acquisitions.

We offer clients efficient, creative, and forward-thinking legal advice related to:

  • Executive compensation
  • Fiduciary planning
  • Health plans
  • Retirement plans
  • Multiemployer pension plans

Should the need arise, our employee benefits attorneys are prepared to work with the IRS and U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of our clients to reduce, and even eliminate, penalties due to plan errors.

Employee Stock Ownership Plans

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) offer a unique opportunity for employees to participate in the growth and success of their employer while providing substantial tax benefits to existing and selling shareholders.

ESOPs offer business owners and management an effective means of providing equity incentives to employees while cultivating the innovation and productivity benefits of an ownership culture. Establishing an ESOP gives existing shareholders an opportunity to transfer ownership to employees with substantial tax advantages. ESOPs can also be an effective mechanism for financing corporate acquisitions. There are a variety of valuable tax benefits available for sellers of stock to ESOPs, for companies with ESOPs as stockholders, and for employees who participate in ESOPs.

Our lawyers have extensive experience with ESOPs and ESOP transactions. Our practice is based on the transactional experience of our attorneys, our specific knowledge of ESOPs in financing and acquisition contexts, and our understanding of the complex legal and regulatory schemes applicable to ESOPs.

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Formation

ESOPs are qualified employee benefit plans created by Congress to promote employee ownership. ESOPs exist in a highly regulated environment under federal tax and employee benefits laws and are subject to the rules and oversight of regulatory agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor. As a result, ESOPs require considerable advance planning to meet the legal requirements imposed on them and to satisfy the needs of employee participants.

Our employee benefits team has provided legal counsel to numerous clients, ranging in size from large public companies to small private and family-owned businesses, and can assist with the preparation, design and implementation of ESOP plans and trust arrangements.

Acquisitions

Our attorneys have represented various parties in transactions where ESOPs have acquired all or a portion of the stock of a company and legal counsel is now needed to help guide a business owner or management team through the lengthy, complicated process.

Financing

Often an ESOP represents only a portion of the financing for a particular transaction, and its involvement tends to introduce numerous complexities to acquisition financing. Our attorneys have experience in public and private debt transactions as well as mezzanine financings involving ESOPs and can assist lenders or borrowers in these financings.

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We are honored by awards that reflect our vision for our work. Work-product awards like Best Law Firms and top tier rankings by Chambers USA and Benchmark Litigation help us attract and keep quality talent who are often recognized as Best Lawyers. Our people help us attract clients and build a team-oriented culture that's led to Top Workplace awards year after year.

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