Steven G. Schaffer is a partner in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice of the Firm. His practice involves the design of pension, profit sharing and employee benefit plans, as well as the legal aspects of plan administration. He has extensive experience in plan audits and problem resolution through Internal Revenue Service programs. Mr. Schaffer has significant experience in negotiating employment arrangements for executives, both on behalf of employers and executives. He has represented clients with respect to employee benefit and executive compensation issues in mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts. He also represents companies, trustees and fiduciaries in leveraged employee stock ownership plan transactions. Mr. Schaffer has significant experience in the design of investment funds suitable for pension plan investors by virtue of the ERISA "plan assets" rules and venture and real estate operating company exemptions. His other areas of concentration include tax planning and corporate transactions.

Mr. Schaffer's clients include publicly and privately held companies throughout the United States. He represents a number of multinational corporations based both in the United States and overseas in structuring the benefit plans of their numerous and varied operations to conform with the requirements of United States tax laws, including the separate lines of business rules.

Mr. Schaffer is a frequent speaker and is the co-author of an article entitled "Retirement & Estate Planning Through the Use of Employee Stock Ownership Plans," Estate Planning & Administrative Service.