We advise on all aspects of executive compensation plans and arrangements, offering experienced counsel on the complex web of applicable tax, corporate, securities and employment laws and regulations. Our executive compensation lawyers provide guidance to companies, boards, compensation committees and select senior executives at all stages of executive compensation planning, from design to disclosure to implementation. Our capabilities also include advising on the interpretation of existing plans and arrangements in a wide variety of transactions. We stay at the cutting edge of changes to the legal framework and public and shareholder sentiment, balancing the technical and the practical in order to best achieve our clients’ goals. Our lawyers have significant experience in equity and cash compensation arrangements; nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements; employment, severance, retention and change-in-control agreements; and profits interests and phantom equity arrangements. 

We counsel an array of public, private and nonprofit clients as they navigate the complex, ever-changing legal landscape that shapes employee benefits and retirement plans. Our attorneys help human resources professionals understand and manage the tax, securities and employment law implications of their benefits programs. We also regularly advise employers, boards of directors, and compensation and administrative committees as they design and draft qualified and non-qualified retirement programs, health and welfare plans, and fringe benefit plans, and represent these employers and their plans before government agencies and in litigation. WilmerHale’s highly experienced transactional and tax lawyers collaborate to tackle employer concerns that range from negotiating the employee-related issues involved in buying or selling a business to advising on worker classification and employment tax matters.

Financial companies face the complex task of designing investment products suitable for ERISA-covered plans. At WilmerHale, seasoned ERISA attorneys collaborate with lawyers from our Investment Management, Financial and Business Integrity and Broker-Dealer Practices to advise clients on the rules that govern the management of pension and other benefit funds. Our experience covers not only ERISA, but also the provisions of the tax laws that can affect the design of benefit plan products and services. Our representation of institutional clients also extends to transactional and litigation matters.

Our knowledgeable attorneys advise US companies on issues surrounding equity or cash plans anywhere in the world, drawing on our broad international network to provide reliable, tailored guidance to each client. We also guide these companies as they implement global harmonization or incentive arrangements after an acquisition, sale or merger. We regularly prepare the rules and individual agreements for international incentive arrangements and assist with related US disclosure and listing issues. We also assist local counsel in preparing documentation in their jurisdictions.