Lawrence I. Davidson

Lawrence Davidson practices in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation. His practice covers a broad spectrum of matters including consultation and design of qualified and non-qualified plans, fiduciary issues arising in connection with the investment of plan assets, termination of benefit programs within the context of Chapters 7 and 11 proceedings, multiemployer withdrawal liability issues, welfare benefit plans, retiree benefit issues, and benefit issues in connection with corporate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

As part of his compliance practice, Mr. Davidson negotiates with various regulatory agencies (IRS, PBGC and U.S. Department of Labor) in connection with audits of employee benefit plans and structures settlements through the various regulatory voluntary compliance programs to cure operational and documentation errors in connection with qualified plans.

Mr. Davidson also counsels organizations and individuals with regard to tax-exemption matters. His practice involves qualification of organizations as tax-exempt entities under Code Section 501(c)(3) and registration as not-for-profit entities under state laws. Additional consulting is provided with regard to operational issues, including reorganizations, mergers, successorship and dissolution.

Mr. Davidson is a member of the Employee Benefits Committee as well as former chair of Division D (Compensation and Benefits) of the Federal Taxation Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals and former chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the Illinois CPA Society.

He has authored several articles on the subject of retirement and pension plans. A certified public accountant, he is a graduate of The John Marshall Law School (LL.M., taxation, 1979; J.D., 1975) and a graduate of the University of Illinois.

Representative Matters:

• Represented Newport Credentialing Solutions, LLC, a leader in cloud-based credentialing and provider enrollment software and services, with respect to employee benefit and executive compensation matters, in its acquisition by TractManager, Inc., the healthcare industry’s largest supplier of strategic sourcing and contract lifecycle management (CLM) solutions.
• Represented Enumeral Biomedical Corp. in closing an alternative public offering, allowing the company to raise $21.5 million in a private placement financing in connection with a reverse merger into a publicly held company.
• Represented Monteco Ltd. and Green Turtle Americas Ltd., a leading provider of composite wastewater pretreatment solutions for commercial, institutional and industrial applications, in the acquisition by Zurn Industries, LLC of Green Turtle and two related Canadian businesses.
• Represented with respect to employee benefit matters a clean technology company in the sale of the stock of a stormwater treatment company to a civil engineering site solutions company.
• Counsel to public company with regard to executive compensation matters, proxy disclosures and CD&A, tax compliance with Code Section 162 (m), development of omnibus compensation programs, employment agreements and deferred compensation plans.
• Counsel to pension funds sponsored by a major utility with regard to plan investments in private equity funds, considering ERISA plan assets and prohibited transaction issues.
• Counsel to a major pension fund investment manager on fiduciary issues pertaining to the plan asset regulations, consultation has involved co-investor and fund of fund issues arising in connection with private equity funds and the creation of VCOC, REOC and QPAM structures.
• Counsel to a national drug company in a multi-employer pension plan withdrawal liability litigation. By structuring the initial assignment of leases to come within ERISA Section 4204(a) as a sale of assets, the national drug company avoided any withdrawal liability assessment. This determination was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Education:

• The John Marshall Law School, LL.M., 1979
• The John Marshall Law School, J.D., 1975

Admissions:

• Illinois
• U.S. Tax Court
• U.S. Court of Claims
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Supreme Court of Illinois

Professional Activities:

• American Bar Association
• Certified Public Accountant, Illinois, 1975
• The Chicago Bar Association
• Illinois CPA Society
• National Association of Stock Plan Professionals
• National Center for Employee Ownership