Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

Sonnenschein has nationally recognized lawyers who are innovative leaders in developing employee benefits and executive compensation strategies and techniques.  Our breadth of knowledge and critical insights are built on years of representing hundreds of companies, boards of directors, and individuals in situations requiring creative thinking, thorough analysis and sound advice.  For example:

• The Firm helps health care and other organizations develop and implement welfare benefit plans, including traditional packaged plans, self-insured medical plans, welfare benefit funding vehicles, split-dollar life insurance and cafeteria benefit arrangements.  We also represent clients in defending their administration of plans and payment or denial of benefits.
• Sonnenschein has long standing advisory relationships with many institutions that act as fiduciaries of ERISA welfare and pension plans, and we frequently provide counsel on the ERISA and executive compensation implications of proposed corporate transactions and restructurings.
• Sonnenschein’s highly skilled ERISA litigators handle actions from defense of individual benefit claims to nationwide class actions.  Our litigation cases run the gamut of claims from preemption and coverage issues, to rights to amend benefits, allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, advisor malpractice, disputes concerning changes in control, and the validity of amendments to, or termination of, pension plans.
• The Firm handles the most complex tax-qualified retirement plan issues, including those involving cash balance plans, leveraged ESOPs, multi-tiered 401(k) plans, prohibited transactions, self-audits for tax qualification and fiduciary compliance, company stock issues, participant directions and agency investigations.
• Sonnenschein provides guidance to help attract, retain, motivate and, where necessary, terminate executives, while controlling exposure to litigation and other liabilities.