Michael A. Lawson is the leader of the Executive Compensation and Benefits Group in the Los Angeles office of Skadden, Arps. Mr. Lawson works on all facets of executive compensation and benefits matters, including:
- stock options and other equity-based compensation plans,
- tax-qualified and non-qualified pension plans,
- fiduciary responsibility/prohibited transactions,
- single and multi-employer plan liability matters,
- severance agreements and ERISA-related issues in structured finance transactions,
- bankruptcy proceedings, and
- proxy contests.
He provides advice in the context of financings, cross-border transactions, private investment company matters and merger and acquisition transactions.
Mr. Lawson regularly advises boards of trustees of pension and other employee benefits funds and boards of directors of financial institutions and of companies sponsoring pension plans concerning their duty of care, fiduciary responsibilities, conflicts of interest and other statutory duties under state and federal laws.
His experience includes advising clients with respect to the structuring and offering of investment vehicles to pension plans and other institutional investors, as well as the fiduciary obligations of investment managers, trustees and other fiduciaries, including matters involving ERISA litigation, U.S. Department of Labor exemption requests and matters involving the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and other government agencies.
Mr. Lawson is consistently recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
