Brian D. Hector counsels clients on Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and employee benefits issues, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), qualified benefits plans, executive compensation, fiduciary liability, and related securities matters. As head of Morgan Lewis’s ESOP Task Force, he advises public and private ESOP clients on corporate governance, succession planning strategies, ownership transition issues, and liquidity transactions. He also represents enterprises before the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) in a range of ESOP and employee benefits matters.
Brian counsels companies and shareholders in the use of ESOPs in a range of transactions, including equity repurchases, ownership succession transactions, leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and corporate reorganizations. He represents lenders and trustees in ESOP transactions, as well as clients before the IRS and DOL in ESOP and other employee benefits matters.
With more than 25 years of experience addressing employee benefits and executive compensation issues, Brian is a member of, and lectures frequently before, the ESOP Association and the National Center for Employee Ownership. He also teaches executive compensation classes as an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School, and he contributes regularly to the New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation.
Member, Practice Group of the Year, Benefits, Law360 (2022)
Member, Law Firm of the Year, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Chambers USA (2019)
Member, Law Firm of the Year, Employee Benefits (ERISA Law), US News/Best Lawyers – Best Law Firms (2019)
Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, Chicago (2019, 2020, 2022–2025)
Recognized, Illinois Super Lawyers (2010–2011)
Member, the ESOP Association
Member, National Center for Employee Ownership
Member, American Bar Association (Taxation Division)
Member, Illinois State Bar Association (Employee Benefits Division)
Member, Chicago Bar Association (Employee Benefits Committee)
Member, Illinois Chapter of the ESOP Association Board Member
Member, Advisory Board, Leading Lawyers Network