Overview
Rick Mapp brings more than 40 years of experience in employee benefits, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), tax, and executive compensation. Nationally recognized for his work in designing, negotiating, and implementing ESOP transactions, Rick is a trusted advisor to business owners seeking to transition ownership through employee stock ownership.
Based in Virginia, Rick guides companies throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond through the complex process of structuring and selling to an ESOP trust. He also counsels Boards of Directors, senior leadership teams, and ESOP Trustees on corporate governance issues unique to employee-owned organizations.
Rick is a member of the firm’s ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation; Mergers, Acquisitions & Strategic Alliances; and Business Taxation practice groups. He also serves as President of ESOP Strategies, a consulting subsidiary of Kaufman & Canoles that provides ESOP feasibility analyses and other advisory services supporting business succession planning for closely held companies.
Rick’s employee benefits and ESOP practice includes plan design and administration, leveraged employee and management buy-outs, succession planning, executive compensation design, as well as banking, finance, and tax planning related to employee ownership structures.
Representative Matters
Represented company and selling shareholders in $50 million bank-financed ESOP buyout of manufacturing facility outside Baltimore, MD
Represent numerous 100% ESOP owned S corporations doing business as government contractors in Maryland, Virginia, and elsewhere
Facilitated and closed numerous ESOP buy-outs (bank and/or seller-financed)
Provide Employee Benefits counsel for North American operations of a large multinational corporation
Recognition & Honors
Honors & Recognitions
Best Lawyers in America, 2002-2026
America’s Leading Business Lawyers; Chambers USA, 2022-2023
Virginia Super Lawyers; Law & Politics, 2012-2013
AV® Rated; Martindale-Hubbell
Press & Publications
News
Speaking Engagements
Community & Professional
Associations
American Bar Association; Taxation Section
The ESOP Association; Legislative and Regulatory Committee
Mid-Atlantic/Carolinas Chapter of The ESOP Association; Vice President
Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Association
Hope House Foundation; The Residential Corporation, Past President
Sacred Heart Catholic Church; Chairman, Parish Finance Council
Credentials
Education
University of Virginia; B.A., with distinction, 1978
University of Virginia School of Law; J.D., 1982
Beyond the Law
Outside the office, Rick is an avid traveler and cycling enthusiast who enjoys exploring new places from the seat of a bike.
