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Services Available
Employee Benefits
Our benefits lawyers are regarded as practice leaders in their creativity and determination when seeking the right solution for a particular client problem. We work closely with management to accomplish their objective, while making sure that benefit plans comply with the law and with all tax regulations.
Baker Hostetler is on the front edge of identifying the best methods to fairly motivate and compensate a company's executives and employees. For example, we are unsurpassed at designing Qualified Separate Lines of Business (QSLOB) plans that give clients the flexibility to promote profit sharing, motivate key employees and prioritize resources. We developed a proprietary database that centralizes plan testing and administration for all business lines.
We have extensive experience in counseling venture capital funds, REITs (both public and private) and other private equity transactions in connection with investment by ERISA plans and other benefit plan investors.
In benefits coverage or fiduciary litigation, whether the issues involve broad ERISA issues or application to specific individuals, our courtroom skill and knowledge of best practices frequently prevails even against emotional plaintiff appeals.
- Obtained bench verdict for a client in a class action by union retirees challenging changes to the client's retiree medical benefit plan.
- Helped a global client survive a U.S. Department of Labor audit of an acquisition, when unexpected problems caused a drop in the value of the stock in the acquired company's ESOP.
- Restructured all the benefits plans for 7,000 employees of our manufacturing client when it was spun off by a large multinational.
- Advised a public company CEO in a matrimonial settlement, saving our client $500,000 a year in support by proper inclusion on appeal of executive retirement, qualified plans and stock options.
- Represented a national engineering firm in a complicated employee stock buyback from a public company, resolving complex tax and other issues and negotiating a competitive price for our client.
When executives or plan fiduciaries face litigation over their policies or stewardship, we defend their asset management strategies. And if businesses face complex individual or class lawsuits over treatment of benefits in terminations, reorganizations, reductions in force and similar business decisions, our lawyers have the combination of trial skill and benefits knowledge to provide effective counsel even in highly emotional cases.
Executive Compensation
We advise employers on all aspects of equity and deferred compensation planning for executives, including the federal and state tax, securities and employee benefits law aspects of supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs), contributory nonqualified deferred compensation plans and programs, stock purchase and stock option plans and agreements, and bonus and incentive plans and programs. Our lawyers understand the tax, accounting, disclosure and securities law considerations such plans require, and demonstrate the issues to consider before adopting complex compensation arrangements and contracts.
If litigation arises over the dismissal of senior executives, our practical knowledge of compensation and employment policies at the highest corporate levels enables us to put on an effective defense.
Health and Welfare Plan Counsel
We assist clients who offer health and welfare benefit programs to their employees with plan design, administration and compliance with the myriad of laws governing such programs. These laws include ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, Medicare, the ADA, FMLA and the ADEA. We also counsel clients with special issues involving multiemployer and single employer Taft-Hartley plans.
In addition, we have significant experience in representing clients in court and administrative proceedings. We have defended client interests before the U.S. Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and many other regulatory bodies.
About Our Benefits Team
Baker Hostetler lawyers develop integrated benefits solutions for employers of all sizes and complexity. In addition to our own in-depth experience with benefit and compensation plans and related litigation -- which, for many team members includes in-house service with accounting and benefits consulting firms, as well as with corporate employers -- we work closely with colleagues in the firm's nationally respected employment, tax, corporate, and securities law practices. The result is strategic, comprehensive advice that goes far beyond the scope of boutique practices or benefits consultants.
About Baker Hostetler
Baker Hostetler lawyers help clients establish, maintain and protect market-leading positions across the United States and around the world. We offer clients the strength of 600+ lawyers in a full range of practices, a unique geographic platform including both the coasts and the center of the country, a deep knowledge of industry issues and a 90-year track record of excellence and achievement.
For more information about our Employee Benefits practice:
National Co-Leaders
Georgeann G. Peters
614.462.4769
gpeters@bakerlaw.com
Raymond M. Malone
216.861.7879
rmalone@bakerlaw.com
Cincinnati
William Appleton
513.929.3403
wappleton@bakerlaw.com
Cleveland
Raymond M. Malone
216.861.7879
rmalone@bakerlaw.com
John J. McGowan
216.861.7475
jmcgowan@bakerlaw.com
Columbus
Georgeann G. Peters
614.462.4769
gpeters@bakerlaw.com
Costa Mesa
George T. Mooradian
714.966.8800
gmooradian@bakerlaw.com
Denver
Raymond Sutton
303.764.4103
rsutton@bakerlaw.com
Houston
Lisa H. Pennington
713.646.1303
lpennington@bakerlaw.com
Los Angeles
Neil Carrey
310.442.8835
ncarrey@bakerlaw.com
New York
Elizabeth A. Smith
212.589.4277
esmith@bakerlaw.com
Orlando
G. Thomas Ball
407.649.4004
tball@bakerlaw.com
Washington, DC
David J. Fischer
202.861.1712
dfischer@bakerlaw.com
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