Now more than ever, companies face significant challenges in attracting and retaining a high-performance workforce. There is greater public scrutiny of compensation and benefits, and a push for greater transparency has vastly increased the complexity of regulations governing these matters. Federal officials routinely publish rules changes that consist of hundreds of pages.
Amid all the noise and confusion, Cozen O’Connor attorneys train their attention on the one thing that matters most: our clients’ goals. We don’t waste time belaboring constraints or cataloging unlikely scenarios. We clear away distractions and focus on finding the most efficient legal path to our clients’ desired results.
Cozen O’Connor’s employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers advise companies, boards of directors, compensation committees, management teams, and individual executives in a wide range of industries. On the employee benefits side, we provide guidance regarding retirement, health, and welfare plans, counsel clients on the benefits implications of business transactions, and advise on fiduciary reponsibilities, plan terminations, or withdrawals. On the executive compensation side, we negotiate sophisticated contracts that include proper protections and desirable incentives for both executives and employers.
Corporate clients need compensation and benefits arrangements that comply with the law, limit liability, attract and retain top talent, and square with the company’s financial position. To strike the appropriate balance among those goals, benefits counsel must develop specific strategies to suit each client’s situation. But whether it’s a union-sponsored multiemployer pension plan or a post-merger executive contract, any well-crafted plan must satisfy one criteria: it must operate as intended. A plan that does not function properly or has unanticipated consequences is a missed opportunity at best and a hotbed of litigation at worst. Cozen O’Connor attorneys make sure that promises made are promises delivered.
While many large-firm benefit and compensation attorneys specialize in narrow subfields, our attorneys are well-rounded general practitioners. They are fully versed in the details of each set of laws and maintain a broad perspective on the field as a whole. We believe this versatility is essential to providing the best advice to clients. Cozen O’Connor attorneys can identify how even small changes in one area could affect a company’s benefits and compensation position in other areas. Moreover, clients know that a single attorney is closely overseeing their account and understands all aspects of their benefits and compensation portfolio.
SERVICES
Employee Benefits
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Design qualified retirement plans, including defined benefit pension plans, defined contribution plans, 401(k) plans, cash balance plans, and ESOPs
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Counsel clients regarding nonqualified retirement plans and related funding arrangements and tax considerations
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Provide advice regarding health and welfare benefit plans’ statutory requirements in order to protect clients from liability
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Counsel clients in their fiduciary duties under ERISA
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Advise clients on benefits issues arising from mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
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Assist with plan terminations and replacements, including the implications of plan underfunding or overfunding
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Counsel clients regarding multiemployer pension plans and withdrawal liability
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Represent clients in all aspects of ERISA litigation and in matters before the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Executive Compensation
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Counsel clients about non-qualified deferred compensation strategies, including Section 409A requirements and other deferred cash compensation models
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Design and provide guidance on equity-based incentive compensation programs
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Prepare employment contracts, retention agreements, and change-in-control agreements
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Negotiate executive compensation packages in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
CLIENTS
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Companies
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Boards of directors
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Compensation committees
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Management teams
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Individual executives
TEAM
Our attorneys are renowned in the field of benefits and compensation law. The team includes a fellow of the prestigious American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and a former U.S. Department of Labor regulator. Several of our attorneys have professional experience as accountants, financial managers, and human resources consultants, which gives them valuable insights into the needs and challenges of their clients. Senior attorneys in the practice frequently lecture and publish on employee benefits, compensation, tax, and employment law.
Cozen O’Connor has a reputation for being entrepreneurial, which means, in part, that we constantly strive to deepen our relationships with our clients. We provide steadfast support to our clients in the midst of challenge, transition, and upheaval because we see client relationships as long-term investments.
We see our cross-disciplinary support of colleagues within the firm as another investment. Effective collaboration is a hallmark of excellent client service. Therefore, members of the employee benefits and executive compensation group work closely with attorneys from tax, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, health, and public finance groups to provide comprehensive legal counsel.