“Our dedicated employee benefits team aims to simplify complex laws and help our clients use them to accomplish their goals in a practical and cost-efficient way.”
-
Who We Are
With deep experience in the field, our employee benefits attorneys advise publicly traded, privately held, governmental, and tax-exempt clients on a broad cross-section of benefits and compensation topics. All of our practice group’s attorneys are dedicated exclusively to the practice of employee benefits.
We work alongside new and long-standing clients on all types of qualified retirement plans; nonqualified plans; equity compensation; partnership profits interests; employment tax; welfare benefit plan compliance; IRS and DOL audits and investigations; and related matters.
Our practice also supports M&A transactions ranging from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars, whether as part of our firm’s corporate department or as part of a larger deal team for our practice group’s benefits clients.
We further differentiate our benefits practice with a robust ESOP client base. We work with dozens of fully and partially owned ESOP companies ranging in size from a few million to several hundred million dollars, advising them on all aspects of ongoing ESOP legal matters. Our group routinely handles ESOP formation and disposition transactions, including company representations and independent ESOP trustee representations.
Our ESOP consulting subsidiary, ESOP Strategies, assists prospective ESOP sponsors with feasibility studies, plan design recommendations, and related financial analysis in the exploratory phase, as well as lender RFPs, and ESOP repurchase and sustainability planning for “mature” ESOPs.
-
How We Help
Our team handles all aspects of ESOPs, employee benefits, compensation, and related tax matters, including:
Employee Stock Ownership Plans and Related Transactions
- ESOP feasibility studies, plan design, financial analyses, and lender RFP searches
- ESOP formation transactions
- Ongoing ESOP compliance and regulatory matters
- Dispositions of ESOP-owned companies, including third-party sales and ESOP redemptions
- Representation of independent ESOP trustees
- ESOP repurchase and sustainability consulting
- Other employee-involved business succession transactions
Qualified and Nonqualified Retirement Plans
- All types of qualified retirement plans, including 401(k), profit-sharing, defined benefit, 457(b), 403(b), governmental 401(a), and cash balance plans
- IRS and DOL audits and investigations of plans
- Nonqualified deferred compensation plans and related tax and ERISA compliance, including Code Sections 409A, 457(f), and 4960
Incentive and Equity Compensation
- Stock option and incentive stock option plans
- Stock appreciation rights
- Change in control and phantom equity agreements
- Partnership profits interests
- Restricted stock and other forms of equity compensation
- Employee stock purchase plans
Welfare Plans
- ERISA and tax code compliance
- ACA, COBRA, cafeteria plan, and health plan guidance
- Severance plans
Employment Tax
- FICA and tax withholding
- Virginia income tax withholding
Business Transactions
- Support for business transactions, including due diligence, purchase agreement negotiation and drafting, benefit plan transition, and related matters
- Coordination of closing payments, termination of benefit plans, and 280G analysis
- Tax and employment aspects of management rollover equity, profits interests, and post-closing equity and incentive plan negotiation
-
Who We Represent
Our private-sector clients operate in the financial services, manufacturing, life sciences, wholesaling, government contracting, shipping, professional services, health care, sports, recreation, construction, real estate, and insurance industries, among others.
Our governmental clients include various Virginia cities, municipal corporations, state agencies, and colleges and universities.
We also represent select executives in negotiating and drafting executive employment agreements, deferred compensation plans, severance agreements, and equity incentives.
Although we are geographically located in Virginia, our client base spans the country.
-
Press And Publication
- K&C Client Alert – October 2024 – Corporate Transparency Act
- ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation Q3 2024 Client Update
- ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation Q2 2024 Client Update
- ESOP Client Alert – Section 1202 QSBS – The Overlooked Arrow in the Business Succession Quiver
- ESOP Client Alert – ESOP Community Waits for DOL Regulation on Valuation with Hope and Dread
- Brandon S. Allred and Robert Q. Johnson Named Practice Group Chairs
- Corporate Transparency Act: ESOP Considerations
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q1 2024 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q4 2023 Client Update
- K&C Client Alert – Corporate Transparency Act
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits – SECURE 2.0 Provisions Taking Effect in 2024
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q3 2023 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q2 2023 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q1 2023 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q4 2022 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q3 2022 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Client Alert
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Q2 2022 Client Update
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Update – Q1 2022 Client Update
- ESOP Client Alert – Game Changer: 100% ESOP-Owned Government Contractors Eligible for Sole Source Awards on Follow-On Contracts
- Employee Benefits Client Alert – Retirement Plan Limitations, ACA Numbers and Limits, Premium Tax Credit Reference Guide, and Medicare Cost Comparison
- Employee Benefits Client Alert – March 2021
- ESOP Client Alert – March 2020 > The CARES Act
- Employee Benefits in the Age of COVID-19
- House GOP Sends Letter to White House on DOL Enforcement Tactics
- Private Equity Seeks Second Chance on ERISA Liability Ruling
- ESOPs & Employee Benefits Update – The ERISA DIY Guide: Six Easy Steps to Getting Sued Over Your 401(k) Plan
- Main Street Employee Ownership Act Signed into Law
- Tax-Exempt Organizations Face New Executive Compensation Rules Under Tax Reform
- New Tax Reform Law Impacts Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
- Employee Benefits Update – Spring 2016
- Employee Benefits Update – December 2014
- Private Client Services Update – Trust Directors & Family-Business Succession: New Virginia Laws Warrant Careful Planning
- Employee Benefits Update – Spring 2014
- Health Insurance Marketplace Subsidies Workshop, December 2-4, 2013
- Advance Premium Tax Credit Table
- Employee Benefits Alert – Retirement Plan Amendment Deadline Fast Approaching for Governmental Plan Sponsors
- Self-Audit Mandate Documents
- Employee Benefits Alert – Supreme Court’s “ObamaCare” Ruling and Employer Group Health Plans
- Employee Benefits Alert – Summer 2012
- Employee Benefits Alert – Fall 2011
- Tight on Cash, One State Taps 529 Plan Reserves
- Employee Benefits Alert – Summer 2011
- Employee Benefits Alert – Fall 2010
- Employee Benefits Alert – Spring 2010
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Spring 2009
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert for Tax Exempt and Government Entities – Summer 2008
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert for Tax Exempt and Government Entities – Spring 2008
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Fall 2007
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Summer 2007
- Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Benefits Alert for Colleges and Universities
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Winter 2006
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Fall 2006
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Summer 2006
- Emergency Response Planning: A Critical Investment
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Benefits Alert – Spring 2006
- Mid-Atlantic Chapter ESOP Association
- Internal Revenue Issues General Transitional Guidance for Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Client Alert – Fall 2005
ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation Attorneys
Areas of Concentration
- Employee Stock Ownership Plans
- Executive Compensation
- Business Succession Planning
- Pension and Profit-Sharing Plans
- Health and Welfare Benefits
- Fiduciary Claims Litigation
- Employee Benefits in Business Transitions
- Retirement Plans for Governmental and other Tax-Exempt Entities
ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation Chair
Robert Q. Johnson