Proskauer Rose hires James Williams into Executive Compensation Practice

Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm with more than 750 lawyers worldwide, announced that James C. Williams, a veteran employee benefits and executive compensation lawyer, has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner.

Mr. Williams advises publicly held and private global companies – as well as universities, schools, tax-exempt organizations, multi-employer plans, and governmental entities – on all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation matters. This includes: the design, formation, and operation of qualified retirement plans; redesign and restructuring of broad-based stock, bonus and other forms of executive compensation programs; comprehensive compliance reviews of retirement plans qualified under the Internal Revenue Code; representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Department of Labor; the design, formation, and operation of employee health, severance and other forms of welfare benefits plans; and the full range of fiduciary, prohibited transaction, investment and related ERISA matters. Mr. Williams advises companies and their boards of directors and compensation committees on all aspects of executive compensation, including employment agreements, equity-based incentive compensation, and with respect to change in control agreements and other transactional matters.

Mr. Williams joins Proskauer from McGuireWoods, where he was a partner in the Chicago office. He was a principal at Deloitte & Touche, where he directed all employee benefit and executive compensation matters handled by the firm’s Chicago tax practice. Mr. Williams received his J.D. from the University of Connecticut, his Master of Law and Taxation degree from the College of William and Mary, and his B.S. from Georgetown University.

Proskauer’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Law Practice Group, which is comprised of more than 50 lawyers, addresses the full spectrum of employee benefit, plan asset and investment, fiduciary and executive compensation issues. The group regularly advises both publicly held and privately held companies, domestic and multinational, on analyzing, designing, implementing and administering pension, 401(k), ESOP, health and welfare, severance, stock option and bonus, and other forms of executive compensation programs. Proskauer also advises senior-level executives on executive compensation arrangements and provides clients with advice on all aspects of compensation and benefits for senior executives and other management employees in addition to addressing tax, ERISA, corporate, securities, stock exchange, employment law and accounting issues.