Durward Gehring

Mr. Durward James Gehring is a partner practicing employee benefits and executive compensation law in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and is the chair of the practice area’s working group on executive compensation matters. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner at a prominent Chicago law firm, where he served as chair of the Employee Benefits Practice Group.

His practice covers all aspects of employee benefits law, with a concentration in qualified and nonqualified retirement and deferred compensation plans, and executive and equity-based compensation. He regularly represents both employers and executives in the negotiation and implementation of executive employment contracts and programs, and advises public, private, and nonprofit employers on the design, implementation, and administration of all types of tax-qualified retirement plans.

Mr. Gehring has also served as fiduciary counsel to both investment committees and investment professionals, including serving as primary ERISA counsel for one of the largest real estate investment advisers in the United States.

Mr. Gehring is an adjunct professor with the John Marshall Law School Center for Tax Law & Employee Benefits, and was previously an adjunct professor on the faculty of the Northwestern University Law School. He is the author of the volume on Individual Retirement Arrangements for the CCH on-line financial planning library.

Education:

• J.D., University of Chicago Law School (1977)
  • Order of the Coif; Law Review
• B.A., University of Illinois (1974)
  • Phi Beta Kappa

Affiliations:

• American Bar Association (Section on Taxation, Committee on Employee Benefits)
• Chicago Bar Association (Committees on Employee Benefits and Federal Taxation; Former Chairman, Corporate Tax Division)
• John Marshall Law School Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits