Sonnenschein Names New Head of Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice
February 14, 2006
(CHICAGO, February 14, 2006)--Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP announced today that Pamela Baker has been appointed chair of the law firm’s national Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group. She succeeds Roger Siske, who died unexpectedly last month. Baker, a 25-year Sonnenschein veteran, most recently was vice-chair of the group. She will be replaced in that role by Martin J. Moderson of the firm’s Kansas City office.
“Pam has more than a quarter century of distinguished experience as an employee benefits and executive compensation lawyer,” said Duane Quaini, Sonnenschein chairman. “Although we continue to mourn Roger Siske’s tragic and untimely death, we look forward to the practice achieving even greater heights under her leadership.”
Baker, who joined Sonnenschein in 1980, focuses on non-qualified deferred compensation, including new Section 409A matters, executive equity incentive arrangements for both private and publicly held entities and their treatment in corporate transactions. She also represents employers and high-level executives in employment agreements, severance arrangements and golden parachute plans. In addition, her practice covers representation of employers in the design, implementation and administration of tax-qualified retirements plans, ERISA representation of institutional fiduciaries and advice to financial institutions concerning ERISA issues arising in pension fund investing.
Baker is past chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Taxation Section Employee Benefits Committee. She also has chaired the Illinois State Bar Association Employee Benefits Section Council and the Chicago Bar Association Employee Benefits Committee. She is a charter member of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, the ABA Taxation Section representative to the ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, and co-chairs the ABA National Institute on Executive Compensation. She also is a member of the ABA Business Law Section Federal Regulation of Securities Committee.
As a nationally recognized leading practitioner in the employee benefits and executive compensation field, Baker is a frequent author and speaker. Recent topics include the intersection of federal securities laws and tax-qualified retirement plans, deferred compensation under the new Internal Revenue Code Section 409A, IRS executive compensation audits, and charitable oversight issues for not-for-profit boards.
Baker received a J.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she was managing editor of the Wisconsin Law Review, and an A.B. degree, with honors, from Smith College. She is the co-managing partner of Sonnenschein’s Chicago office.
Sonnenschein, with more than 700 attorneys and other professionals in nine U.S. cities and a global reach, serves the legal needs of many of the world’s largest and best-known businesses, nonprofits and individuals. For more information, visit www.sonnenschein.com.
Media Contact:
Linda Butler
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
(312) 876-3453
LButler@sonnenschein.com
