CHOATE HALL & STEWART LLP

Art Meyers is listed in Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America. 

Practice Focus

Executive & equity compensation:  advises senior executives and boards on all matters relating to executive compensation, including employment, severance and change in control arrangements.  Advises public and closely held entities on tax, corporate, employment and securities law aspects of equity compensation plans.

Employee benefit plans:  counsels profit and not-for-profit employers on the design, implementation and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans, nonqualified deferred compensation plans and welfare benefit plans. 

ERISA:  serves as ERISA counsel to plan fiduciaries and private funds.

Representative Engagements

• Negotiates and drafts executive employment, consulting, severance and change of control agreements and provides advice on all related matters.
• Advises public and closely held entities on the tax, corporate, employment and securities law aspects of equity compensation plans, including nonqualified stock options, incentive stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, employee stock purchase plans and stock appreciation rights.
• Guides public companies through equity compensation plan redesign and shareholder approval process in response to equity compensation expensing, exchange listing requirements, shareholder dilution, underwater stock options, option timing issues, “say on pay” and institutional investor emphasis on pay-for-performance.
• Structures and documents nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements and their funding vehicles, including responses to 409A deferred compensation rules.
• Consults on document and operational compliance issues relating to tax-qualified retirement plans and welfare benefit plans, including determination letters, agency correction programs, plan investments, fiduciary conduct and IRS/DOL controversies.
• Advises on executive compensation, ERISA and employee benefit plan issues arising in connection with mergers, acquisitions, credit facilities and other business transactions, including 401(k) plan spin-offs and transfers, multi-employer plan withdrawal liability, COBRA and golden parachute payment analysis.
• Counsels private equity and venture capital funds on the ERISA plan asset, prohibited transactions and common control issues relating to their formation and maintenance.
• Provides technical assistance in ERISA litigation and other controversies with respect to matters such as severance, workforce reductions, post-retirement medical benefits, fiduciary duties, benefits claims and withdrawal liability.

Publications and Presentations

• “New Rules for Proxy Statement Disclosure,” moderator, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals Meeting, February 2010. 
• “New Regulations on Employee Stock Purchase Plans,” author, Law360, December 2009. 
• “The Roadmap: How – and Why – to Implement Net Exercises,” speaker, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, 17th Annual Conference, San Francisco, November 2009. 
• "Section 162(m) for Dummies," speaker, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, 16th Annual Conference, New Orleans, October 2008.
• "The Roadmap: How to Implement Net Exercise," speaker, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, 16th Annual Conference, New Orleans, October 2008.
• “Hiring and Firing Executive Officers: The Impact on Equity Compensation Awards,” speaker, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, Boston, 2008.
• “Top Ten Stock Plan Document Fixes,” presenter, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, national webcast, April 2008.
• “Creating your Management Team: Compensation and Benefits Considerations,” speaker, Brown Forum for Enterprise, Rhode Island, November 2007.
• “Designing and Administering Stock Plans after 409A,” speaker, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, 15th Annual Conference, San Francisco, October 2007.
• “Spring is Coming: Time to Tune-up Your Company’s Stock Option Plan and Practices,” speaker, National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, Boston, March 2007.
• “Massachusetts Fair Share Act, Employment Law Update,” speaker, Northeast Human Resources Association, Rhode Island, November 2006.
• “Structuring and Disclosing Executive Compensation,” speaker, Pharmaceutical Corporate Governance Forum, American Conference Institute, New York City, October 2006.

Professional and Community Involvement

Mr. Meyers is a member of the American Bar Association, National Association of Corporate Directors, National Center for Employee Ownership, New England Compensation Consortium, New England Employee Benefits Council and the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals.   He is a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.  He serves on the Executive Compensation Task Force, a division of CompensationStandards.com, and on the advisory board of mystockoptions.com, a website providing extensive content and modeling tools for stock option holders.  From 1998 to 2004, Mr. Meyers served as president of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.