Executive Employment Lawyers Representing Executives In All Areas of Employment Law
The executive employment lawyers in Outten & Golden’s Executives & Professionals Practice Group understand the legal, business, and professional implications of entering and exiting employment and partnership agreements of all kinds. Our lawyers have considerable experience negotiating – and helping clients negotiate – such agreements, as well as litigating contractual claims when appropriate.
Mergers, Acquisition & Other Transactions
The attorneys in Outten & Golden’s Executives & Professionals Practice Group represent executives, founders, and management groups in corporate transactions . Our lawyers have experience representing executives and founders in mergers and acquisitions and restructuring events involving both public and privately-owned companies (both private equity-based and closely held), often partnering with the selling entity’s corporate counsel in the transaction. We zealously negotiate the full suite of transaction-related documents that will impact their employment, including ensuring tax-efficient payment of any sale-related benefits as well as ensuring that the terms of employment with the buyer are fair and reasonable.
Offer Letters, Employment Agreements, & Compensation Agreements
Outten & Golden attorneys work tirelessly for our clients to ensure that they are protected from obligations that are unfair and unreasonable; that their executive compensation packages are sound and well structured; and that their positions are appropriate for them and the type of organization they are joining. The executive employment lawyers of Outten & Golden in New York City, Washington, DC and San Francisco have extensive experience with a broad range of matters of employment-related agreements, including:
- Offer letters and employment agreements for executives, managers, and other employees
- Employment and partnership agreements for regulated professionals, including in the legal, accounting, medical, and financial services fields
- Agreements for partners, physicians, independent contractors, and other talent
- Shareholder and Operating Agreements
- Bonus, compensation, commission and equity agreements
- Severance, retention, and change-of-control agreements
- Restrictive covenant agreements, including trade secret, confidentiality, non-disclosure, garden leave, and non-competition and non-solicitation clauses
- Expatriate agreements, including secondment, employment and severance agreements
- Employment-related immigration issues
Executive Compensation
The attorneys in Outten & Golden’s Executives & Professionals Practice Group are experienced in executive compensation attorneys. We advise executives with respect to all types of executive compensation, including equity-based compensation such as Employee Stock Plans, Deferred compensation issues under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A, and Change in control issues under Internal Revenue Code 280G. If a tax specialist is required, we have professionals available to ensure that our clients receive the best advice.
International Employment
Outten & Golden attorneys work with a network of immigration lawyers and international executive attorneys in matters concerning executives' status, including expatriate, secondment, and assignment agreements. Our lawyers can also advise employees on employment-related immigration problems. In our expatriate practice at Outten & Golden, we understand the needs of executives and their families going abroad for expatriate opportunities. We are also committed to protecting the civil rights of these expatriates if they are discriminated against far from home when U.S. law applies extraterritorially. Our lawyers are experts in this field and speak and write internationally on these subjects.
Restrictive Covenants
The attorneys at Outten & Golden negotiate non-compete and non-solicit agreements so that our clients—executives, partners, or professionals—are protected from unfair restraints on their careers in the future. Likewise, we negotiate agreements regarding trade secrets and work for hire agreements. We focus on protecting our clients’ rights while allowing them to fulfill their obligations to the businesses they lead. We strongly encourage our clients not to sign or agree to any restrictions on their employment without consulting with our team. Consulting with our lawyers before, not after, employment begins can often prevent problems.
Contract Disputes
Outten & Golden attorneys represent employees whose employers have breached employment-related contracts and employees who have been accused by their employers of breaching such contracts. Outten & Golden lawyers often negotiate resolutions of these matters, enabling clients to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation. We have also successfully* litigated breach of contract cases in arbitration, and in federal and state court.
(*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)