ERISA Counsel and Attorney-Client Privilege: What You Don't Know About the Fiduciary Exception Could Hurt You

Mr. Johanson assists clients in general corporate matters and in employee ownership, benefit, ERISA, and related business matters, with an emphasis on executive compensation, equity incentive plans, non-qualified deferred compensation, ESOPs, ESOP transactions, mergers and acquisitions and related tax planning, and business succession and estate planning. He defends ERISA fiduciaries, plan sponsors, selling shareholders, and investment advisers in ERISA litigation matters involving ESOPs and business transactions in federal and state courts throughout the country in a wide range of controversies covering ERISA fiduciary responsibilities, ESOP valuation disputes, disclosure obligations, investment issues, and tax matters. He has extensive experience in negotiating ESOP, ERISA, and other issues with government regulatory agencies and in representing ERISA fiduciaries in litigation. Recognized nationally for his experience and expertise in the ESOP and executive compensation field, he is a past chair of the legislative and regulatory advisory committee of The ESOP Association. 

Mr. Martin serves as Chairman, Midwest for the firm, a member of the Executive Committee, and a partner in the Litigation Department. A leading national trial lawyer, his clients include major Chicago companies and some of the nation’s most influential families, and he regularly appears as lead counsel in trials and appeals in state and federal courts as well as in domestic and international arbitrations. Mr. Martin also counsels boards and board committees of public and private companies and law firms on a variety of sensitive and complicated matters, and conducts board and management-driven investigations involving various subjects domestically and internationally.