NEW YORK, August 20, 2007 – LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP announced today that Paul M. Ritter has joined the firm as a partner in the employment law department and will head the firm’s executive compensation practice. Over the past 27 years, Mr. Ritter has specialized in the areas of executive compensation, qualified and nonqualified retirement plans and equity compensation.
“We are pleased to welcome Mr. Ritter to our firm,” said Paul Pearlman, the firm’s managing partner. “As a leading attorney in the area of executive compensation, Mr. Ritter’s expertise will play an important role in helping us meet the needs of our diverse client base, further enhancing the capabilities of our preeminent employment law practice.”
Mr. Ritter represents both companies and senior executives in connection with executive employment and severance agreements. His engagements have included a broad spectrum of business entities (C and S corporations, LLCs, partnerships and joint ventures), sizes of business (Fortune 100 companies to startups) and industries (media, publishing, financial services, retail, advertising and manufacturing).
He is often involved in the design and implementation of equity-based compensation arrangements, including stock options, restricted stock, performance shares, stock appreciation rights, phantom shares/restricted stock units, as well as “carried interest” arrangements. In addition, he has extensive experience in designing and implementing nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements and funding vehicles for such arrangements. He also has extensive experience with non-competition and non-solicitation restrictions, “golden parachutes” and the limitation on deductions for compensation in excess of $1 million.
Mr. Ritter has been a member of the Adjunct Faculty of the New York University School of Law since 1989, where he teaches the course on executive compensation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.
Mr. Ritter was most recently a partner at Cooley Godward Kronish in New York, where he began his career directly after law school. He is admitted to practice before the New York State Bar and the South Carolina Bar. He received an LL.M. (in Taxation) from New York University School of Law in 1980, a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1979, and a B.B.A. (in Accounting) from The George Washington University in 1975.
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, with approximately 340 attorneys, is a full-service law firm with offices in New York and Paris. The firm represents clients worldwide, from the Global 1000 to entrepreneurial start-up concerns and individuals. Additional information about the firm is available on the firm’s website: www.kramerlevin.com.
