R. Joseph Barton, Partner, Block & Leviton LLP to Speak at The Knowledge Group’s Webcast
The Knowledge Group, the leading producer of regulatory focused webcasts, has announced today that R. Joseph Barton, Partner, Block & Leviton LLP will speak at its webcast entitled, “ESOP Formation Post-COVID-19: Current Approaches to Business Succession Planning.” This event is scheduled for Friday, January 22, 2021 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm (ET).
- (1888PressRelease) January 22, 2021 - For further details, please visit:
https://www.theknowledgegroup.org/webcasts/esop-formation-post-covid-19/
About R. Joseph Barton
R. Joseph Barton is a Partner at Block & Leviton LLP and leads the firm’s Employee Benefits practice and Veterans/USERRA practice. He represents employees in a variety of employee benefit disputes, fiduciary breaches or other ERISA or USERRA violations and also represents fiduciaries of plans with claims against other fiduciaries. He has been trial counsel for plaintiffs in several ERISA trials, including two cases involving ESOPs holding privately-held stock. In a case affirmed by the Seventh Circuit, he represented a class of participants and obtained a favorable liability decision and remedies award of over $20 million after trial concerning a complex transaction involving the purchase of stock by the Trachte Building Systems ESOP. Mr. Barton has represented participants in litigation involving the following other ESOPs holding privately-held stock: Adams & Associates, Azon, Jeld-Wen, KPC Healthcare, Rainbow Disposal, Raydon Corporation, Tharaldson Motels, Ulteig, and Wawa. In addition to ESOP cases, Mr. Barton has litigated a wide variety of ERISA class actions, including cases involving breach of fiduciary breaches, one of the earliest cases alleging the improper investment of plan assets in proprietary mutual funds (a plan fee case), pension benefit claims, severance benefits, COBRA violations, ERISA discrimination claims and veterans offsets in disability plans.
About Block & Leviton LLP
Block & Leviton, LLP represents employees, retirees, investors, consumers, veterans and servicemembers nationwide, in both class actions and individual lawsuits to protect their rights. Block & Leviton has been appointed as lead or co-lead counsel in dozens of high profile class action litigation matters, including: In re BP Securities Litig., No. 4:10-MD-02185 (S.D. Tex.) (settled for $175 million), In re Google Class C Shareholder Litig., No. 7469-CS (Del. Ch.) (settled for $522 million), In re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litig., No. 3:15-md- 02672 (N.D. Cal.) (settlement valued at approximately $15 billion), In re Thalomid & Revlimid Antitrust Litig., No. 14-cv-6997 (D.N.J.) ($34 million settlement), and Pfeifer v. Wawa, No. 2:16-cv-00497 (E.D. Pa.) ($25 million settlement in ESOP litigation).
Block & Leviton’s Employee Benefits Practice Group represents employees and retirees who are participants in employee benefits plans (and their beneficiaries) nationwide. The Practice Group focuses on litigation involving violations of the federal law Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) in connection with employee benefit plans sponsored by private employers, but has also represented employees who participant in non-ERISA plans (such as government plans).
Abstract
With today’s major economic recession faced by businesses due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) continues to be an attractive option for companies seeking to address the need for succession planning to sustain competitive advantage in the market and looking to provide their employees with an ownership interest through a retirement plan.
While ESOPs offer several advantages it offers, including significant tax benefits, as an ESOP is an ERISA-covered retirement plan, those regulations must be carefully considered and addressed. Now more than ever, companies, sellers, fiduciaries and their lawyers must be conversant with the implications of implementing ESOP to ensure that risks are mitigated, while having a favorable market position in a post-coronavirus environment, that the ESOP and its participants receive fair market value and that other ERISA requirements are followed in this post-coronavirus environment.
In this LIVE Webcast, ESOP experts David Johanson (Hawkins Parnell & Young, LLP) and Joseph Barton (Block & Leviton LLP) will provide an in-depth discussion of ESOP formation post-COVID-19. Speakers will also offer helpful succession planning tips in maximizing the potentials of ESOPs, ensuring that ESOPs provide the proper benefits to participants, follow ERISA’s requirements and navigating possible challenges along the way.
Some of the major topics that will be covered in this course are:
• ESOP Formation Post-COVID-19
• Recent Regulatory Trends and Developments
• Legal Risks and Challenges
• Practical Tips and Best Practices
• Outlook
About The Knowledge Group
Founded in November 2006, The Knowledge Group has been at the forefront of providing quality continuing education programs for lawyers, accountants, financial executives, risk and compliance specialists, human resources professionals, technology officers, and business consultants in a wide range of industries.
The Knowledge Group strives to be the best-in-class provider of continuing education by bringing forth relevant content you can’t get anywhere else.
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