Employee Stock Ownership Plans: Pros and Cons

David R. Johanson is Partner-in-Charge of the Napa office of Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young LLP.  He has offices in Napa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York to cover his national client base.  David has more than 20 partners, associates, and paralegals on his team at Hawkins Parnelll Thackston & Young LLP.  David and his team assist 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, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), ESOP transactions, mergers and acquisitions (and related tax planning), and business succession and estate planning.  David and his team have defended 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, non-competition disputes, and tax matters.  David has extensive experience in negotiating ESOP, ERISA, and other issues with government regulatory agencies and in representing ERISA fiduciaries and members of Boards of Directors and officers in state and federal litigation throughout the country.

Rachel J. Markun is a Partner in the Napa office of Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young LLP.  Rachel advises clients regarding the corporate, tax and fiduciary issues relating to ESOPs.  She has represented ERISA plan fiduciaries, employers and institutions in connection with legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, ERISA, the federal securities laws, and the California laws.  She has extensive tax expertise relating to tax-exempt entities and all aspects of retirement plan qualification matters as well as fiduciary and corporate governance matters.  She represents retirement plan corporate sponsors in a variety of matters, including Internal Revenue Service audits and U.S. Department of Labor investigations.  She counsels many ESOP companies and fiduciaries on a range of compliance, best practices and risk management issues, and with respect to various transaction matters.