Expert Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Advice
Executive compensation and employee benefits advice for companies and executives. Big firm experience, small firm attention.
Our Founder
Steve has nearly 30 years of big law firm experience in employee benefits, executive compensation, and the WARN Acts. He is regularly recognized as one of the pre-eminent employee benefits and executive compensation practitioners.
Steve is a recognized leader in compensation, benefits, and ERISA law. He has been ranked by Chambers USA as one of the top employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers in California and Chambers has noted that he “maintains an impressively broad practice.”
Steve has extensive experience working with both companies and senior executives to negotiate and draft employment, compensation, and separation agreements. He also has led the employee benefit, executive compensation, and employment aspects of hundreds of corporate transactions and bankruptcies. Steve also regularly helps clients navigate state and federal WARN Acts.
He also advises clients with respect to utilizing “top hat” and severance plans as a work around to noxious state law non-compete restrictions.
Steve routinely advises clients on benefit plan design, implementation and compliance, and advises plan committees on ERISA fiduciary matters, compliance, and best practices.
In addition to being a trusted advisor, he is also a zealous advocate, representing clients in matters before the IRS, the Department of Labor and corollary state agencies in audits and settlement negotiations.
Steve has been consistently ranked as one of the top employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers in California since 2013 by Chambers USA (receiving the prestigious Band 1 ranking since 2019). He also has been recognized by The Legal 500 for Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans – Transactional, and by The Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, Employment Law – Management and Tax Law, included being recognized as Lawyer of the Year for Tax Law in 2024 and 2021.