Practice Areas & Industries: Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.

Practice/Industry Group Overview

The Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits Group advises and represents clients on all types of benefit programs, including health and welfare programs; flexible benefit or cafeteria plans; executive incentive, excess benefit and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements; stock option and stock purchase programs; and qualified pension, profit sharing, stock bonus, 401(k) and employee stock ownership plans.

"Historically, our small and medium-size clients have consulted this practice group for its sophisticated, cost-effective approach to providing legal service."

An important role of the practice group is to assist the sponsors of several hundred qualified plans in complying with ever-changing federal tax and pension laws and regulations. Our clients include nonprofit organizations, governmental units, large and small public and privately-held corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships. Companies from all business sectors are represented: computer and telecommunications hardware and software production and consulting firms, bank holding companies, manufacturing and fabrication enterprises, manufacturers' representatives, retailers, entertainment enterprises, and professional engineering, medical, architectural, accounting and legal firms.

Historically, our small and medium-size clients have consulted this practice group for its sophisticated, cost-effective approach to providing legal service. This has served us well in building our representation of large public and privately-held corporations in this competitive and cost-conscious market for legal services.

One hallmark of this practice group's approach is its coordination of services with accountants, actuaries, third-party administrators and other professionals. While our group does not provide participant and trust accounting or investment services, it works closely with these important service providers to ensure that clients' benefit programs and plans are properly and legally administered.

The Compensation Planning & Employee Benefits Group regularly represents a number of Fortune 500 public companies and Fortune 1,000-size privately held companies, many with significant foreign operations. Together with the firm's trusts & estates attorneys, we also regularly advise executives, professionals and others with substantial retirement plan assets regarding the distribution of their retirement benefits.

Services Available

Examples of recent representation include:

• Large Non-Profit Hospital: Advice on design, implementation and transition to defined contribution plans from defined benefit plan environment.
• Fortune 500 Client: Advice on complex issues of severance pay and golden parachute arrangements.
• Banks/Bank Holding Companies: Creative use of employee stock ownership plan upon the purchase of a bank subsidiary.
• Major Minnesota Closely Held Company: Ongoing advice on all matters relating to defined benefits plans, cafeteria plans, 401(k) arrangements and executive compensation.
• Mid-Sized Employee Owned Corporation: Advice on sale to foreign corporation and on-going post-acquisition service relating to benefit program.
• Start-Up Internet Company: Advice on designing equity-based compensation program and protection upon a change of control.

Clients:
Altru Health System , American Crystal Sugar Company , Analysts International Corporation , Cardinal Glass Industries, Inc. , North Memorial Health Care , St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System , Telex Communications , Thrifty Drug Stores, Inc.