Dean C. Bachus

For nearly 20 years, Dean Bachus has focused his practice on executive compensation, benefits, and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) transactional matters. His experience covers tax planning and structuring compensation and benefit arrangements in domestic and international business acquisitions and dispositions. He also advises clients in connection with all compensation and employee benefit-related aspects of corporate transactions, reorganizations, financing arrangements, and public offerings, including negotiating, reviewing, and drafting transactional documents, supervising due diligence, and identifying issues arising under, and assisting in complying with, the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, applicable labor laws, federal securities laws, and applicable exchange regulations.

Dean's practice includes designing, negotiating, and drafting equity-based compensation plans (including stock option, restricted stock, and phantom equity arrangements); cash bonus plans; employment, consulting, termination, severance, and change-in-control contracts; and restrictive covenant agreements, including noncompetition, nonsolicitation, and confidentiality arrangements.

Dean also advises clients on the structure, implementation, and administration of nonqualified employee compensation plans, programs, and arrangements, including the associated ERISA, federal tax, and securities implications. He also provides counsel to management teams and boards of directors on executive compensation and change-in-control arrangements in connection with corporate transactions and reorganizations and consults with shareholders, senior executives, and boards of directors on transactional strategies.

Dean has represented major private equity funds and publicly traded companies in hundreds of acquisitions and dispositions, focusing on benefit and compensation issues that arise in such transactions, as well as the design and maintenance of incentive programs and facilitating management turnover.