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Press Release

Prominent Johanson Berenson Partners Join Jackson Lewis

WHITE PLAINS, NY (January 24, 2012) - Jackson Lewis LLP, one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing workplace law firms, is pleased to announce that five attorneys from the prominent employee benefits, tax, and litigation law boutique Johanson Berenson LLP have joined the firm.  Nationally recognized benefits/ESOP/ERISA practitioner and defense litigator David R. Johanson will service clients in our Napa, CA location and practice in the firm’s Los Angeles office along with Associate Monica Patel.  Partner Rachel Markun and Associate Teresa Huang also will continue to service clients in our Napa, CA location.  Douglas Rubel, an experienced benefits and ERISA litigator, has joined Jackson Lewis’ office in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Commenting on the developments, Firm-wide Managing Partner Patrick L. Vaccaro said, “This outstanding group of professionals will enhance our expertise in this important area of the law and will enable us to offer our clients the broadest range of services.  We now have a deep bench of some 35 seasoned professionals with knowledge of every facet of employee benefits.”

Michael Jacobster, Chair of the Jackson Lewis Employee Benefits Practice Group, added, “We are honored that partners of David’s and Rachel’s stature have joined the firm.  Not only will they greatly contribute to our expertise in the ESOP, stock ownership and executive compensation fields, but they and their group will be a valuable resource to service clients nationally, as well as on the West Coast.”  

David Johanson's practice concentrates in employee ownership and benefit matters, with an emphasis on executive compensation, equity incentive plans, non-qualified deferred compensation, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), ESOP transactions, benefits and ERISA issues in mergers and acquisitions, and related business and tax planning matters.  He advises publicly-traded and closely-held companies and their compensation committees regarding the design, documentation, implementation, and administration of various types of executive compensations plans and related disclosure issues.  Mr. Johanson also frequently appears on behalf of clients in business and employment and employee ownership-oriented and ERISA defense litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country, before regulatory agencies (e.g., U.S. Department of Labor, California Labor Commissioner, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), in tax controversies before the Internal Revenue Service and comparable state regulatory agencies and in dispute resolutions of various kinds.  He is a past chair of the legislative and regulatory advisory committee of The ESOP Association and of its advisory committee chairs counsel and is a former member of its Board of Directors.  Mr. Johanson also served on the Board of Directors of The National Center for Employee Ownership and as its general counsel for more than ten years.  He is a widely-published author in the ESOP and ERISA fiduciary area.  He has been honored in Who’s Who in American Law as someone who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in their field and has been a member of Martindale-Hubbell’s Preeminent Bar Register for more than ten years with an A-V rating.  Mr. Johanson also is a frequent lecturer for the University of Southern California Law School. 

Rachel Markun, formerly a partner in the benefits group at Morrison and Foerster, is recognized for her practice accomplishments in the corporate, tax and fiduciary issues relating to ESOPs and employee benefit plans.  She has represented plan fiduciaries and financial institutions in connection with legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, and the federal securities laws.  She has extensive tax expertise relating to tax-exempt entities including matters involving unrelated business tax issues. She has an active practice in addressing ERISA issues in litigation matters and in addressing regulatory matters involving ESOPs. She has extensive experience in substantive ERISA issues and in preparing defense strategies for ERISA cases. She counsels ESOP companies and fiduciaries regarding a range of compliance and best practices issues.  Ms. Markun is a frequent lecturer for The ESOP Association, The National Center for Employee Ownership, the National Employment Law Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the Institute for Fiduciary Education and the National Council of Investment Law Attorneys. She is the co-author of The Fiduciary Responsibilities of Employee Benefit Plan Fiduciaries under ERISA (Institutional Real Estate, Inc. Publications 1996) and the Attorney's Guide to Pension and Profit-Sharing Plans (California Continuing Education of the Bar 1994.)

About Jackson Lewis

Founded in 1958, Jackson Lewis, dedicated to representing management exclusively in workplace law, is one of the fastest growing workplace law firms in the U.S., with almost 700 attorneys practicing in 48 cities nationwide. We have a wide-range of specialized practice areas, including: Affirmative Action and OFCCP Planning and Counseling; Disability, Leave and Health Management; Employee Benefits, including Complex ERISA Litigation and Executive Compensation; Global Immigration; Labor, including Preventive Practices; Litigation, including Class Actions, Complex Litigation and e-Discovery; Trade Secrets, Non-Competes and Workplace Technology; Wage and Hour Compliance; Workplace Safety Compliance and Corporate Diversity Counseling.  In addition, Jackson Lewis provides advice nationally in other workplace law areas, including: Reductions in Force, WARN Act; Corporate Governance and Internal Investigations; Drug Testing and Substance Abuse Management; International Employment Issues; Management Education, including e-Based Training; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Public Sector Issues; Government Relations; Collegiate and Professional Sports; and Privacy, Social Media and Information Management.

For the 10th consecutive year, Jackson Lewis has been recognized for delivering client service excellence to the world’s largest corporations.  Representing a decade of excellence, we have once again earned a spot on the BTI Client Service A-Team.  Jackson Lewis has also been recognized by in-house counsel of Fortune 1000 companies after a comprehensive survey, as “the single highest-ranked firm clients want by their side in employment battles.”  In addition, Jackson Lewis is ranked in the First Tier nationally in the categories of both Employment Law and Labor Law on behalf of Management in the U.S. News – Best Lawyers ® “Best Law Firms.”  Jackson Lewis has one of the most active employment litigation practices in the United States, with a current caseload of over 5000 litigations and approximately 300 class actions; over 2100 litigations were brought to the firm in 2010 alone. And finally, Jackson Lewis is affiliated with L & E Global Employers’ Counsel Worldwide.

Additional information about Jackson Lewis can be found at www.jacksonlewis.com.

For more information, please contact:
Lara Hamm
T: (703) 483-8373
Email: hamml@jacksonlewis.com