John M. Wirtshafter

"Having designed and handled employee benefits and executive compensation issues in hundreds of business transactions involving over $30 billion, I bring a broad wealth of legal knowledge, experience and creativity to solving and resolving complex legal issues and problems."

John has extensive experience assisting mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies with employee benefits and executive compensation issues and opportunities, including benefits issues arising in mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and bankruptcies, and the design and implementation of qualified and non-qualified retirement and benefits programs including ESOPs, defined benefit and defined contribution plans, cash balance programs, non-qualified deferred compensation plans, stock option and other equity participation programs, VEBAs and SERPs. John regularly consults with employers contributing to multiemployer pension and welfare plans with issues relating to transactions, bankruptcies, controlled group liability, and strategic planning for reducing and combating claims made for withdrawal liability for partial or complete withdrawals.

John was the national President of one of the largest U.S. employee benefits professional organizations, the Worldwide Employee Benefits Network.  John frequently speaks on various employee benefits topics and has been quoted and interviewed in numerous magazines and newspapers regionally and nationally.

John earned his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1984. He received a B.S., cum laude, from Indiana University in 1981.