Benjamin Panter

Practice Areas

Executive compensation and governance | Tax and benefits | Business counseling | Capital markets | Labor and employment | Medical devices | Mergers and acquisitions | Private equity | Securities | Environmental, social and governance (ESG) | Startup and venture capital

Career

Ben is the Chair of the Executive Compensation and Governance Practice Group and advises clients across a broad spectrum of industries on executive compensation and employment law issues that arise from public and private M&A and private equity transactions, restructurings, debt and equity financings, and IPOs. He has an active practice representing compensation committees, companies, and senior executives in the negotiation and structuring of executive employment and severance agreements. He frequently represents management teams in private equity deals and other M&A transactions.

Ben also provides ongoing counsel to public and private companies, compensation committees, and executives with respect to day-to-day executive compensation and employment law matters, including corporate governance and best practices, executive compensation plan design, employment, severance and change in control agreements, restrictive covenant enforcement, and equity incentive compensation arrangements, as well as advising on related regulatory, securities, tax, and public disclosures, including IRC Sections 409A, 280G, and 162(m), Item 402, and Dodd-Frank.

Ben has been an adjunct professor teaching executive compensation law at a Chicago area law school, and was formerly a partner in the Executive Compensation Practice Group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

In 2019, Ben co-authored the sixth chapter of the 2019 Employment Law Update edited by Henry H. Perritt Jr., "Founders: Employees or Owners."