Brian D. Robbins is a Partner at the Firm and the Head of the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice Group.  He has extensive experience in the areas of executive compensation, employee benefits and ERISA and routinely advises the Firm's corporate clients in connection with compensation and employment matters and has represented numerous high profile senior executives in connection with the negotiation of employment and termination agreements.

Mr. Robbins' practice has included participation in numerous complex mergers and acquisitions, securities and commercial banking transactions involving issues arising under Title I and Title IV of ERISA and related provisions of the Internal Revenue Code; the structuring and implementation of management equity arrangements, deferred compensation and other executive compensation, employment and severance programs; advice with respect to tax, accounting and securities law issues related to the implementation of qualified and non-qualified compensation arrangements; and experience with respect to Title I fiduciary, plan assets and prohibited transaction concerns arising in connection with venture capital investments and corporate transactions.

Mr. Robbins works closely with the firm’s numerous private equity and leveraged buyout fund clients in order to assure qualification as “venture capital operating companies” and “real estate operating companies” to avoid ERISA fiduciary and potential prohibited transaction concerns.

Mr. Robbins has been a speaker at professional and private seminars and conferences relating to executive compensation and employee benefits matters.  He has been included in Best Lawyers in America – Employee Benefits Section and The New York Area’s Best Lawyers - Employee Benefits Law and has been included in the New York Times Super Lawyers of New York Metropolitan Area, and New York Magazine New York Area Best Lawyers.

Mr. Robbins is consistently ranked by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2007-2011) as a leading individual in Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation in New York.  In recent editions, Mr. Robbins has been described by clients as a “‘very smart and very accomplished lawyer’” and as a “’tirelessly hard worker’ who is ‘one of the cornerstones of the practice’”.

Mr. Robbins received his B.A. from Amherst College in 1985 and his J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law in 1988 where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems.

Honors/Associations

•	American Bar Association
•	New York State Bar Association

Publications

•	New Proposed Rules under IRC Section 162(m)
•	The Supreme Court Holds that Reformation of ERISA Plan Terms Due to False or Misleading Plan Summaries Does Not Strictly Require a Showing of Detrimental Reliance
•	IRS Issues Final Regulations Relating to Employee Stock Purchase Plans and the Reporting Requirements for Employee Stock Purchase Plans and Incentive Stock Options
•	IRS Establishes Corrections Program to Cure Deferred Compensation Defects Under Code Section 409A
•	December 31, 2009 Deadline Approaches for Amendments to Comply with Section 162(m) and to Correct Certain Section 409A Operational Failures
•	Federal Reserve Issues Proposed Incentive Compensation Guidance for All Banking Organizations
•	Treasury Issues New Employee Compensation and Corporate Governance Standards for TARP Recipients
•	Navigating the Swift Currents of “Underwater” Stock Options
•	American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Provision of Premium Subsidy for COBRA Beneficiaries
•	American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Restrictions on Employee Compensation Arrangements of TARP Recipients
•	New IRC Section 457A Prohibits Deferral of Compensation Paid by Offshore Funds and Certain Partnerships
•	Reminder: Transition Relief for Code Section 409A Deferred Compensation Arrangements Expires on December 31, 2008
•	Update: IRS Issues Transition Relief, but Affirms Its New Position under Section 162(m) Regarding “Good Leaver” Provisions
•	Client Alert: IRS Reverses Position under Section 162(m) Regarding “Good Leaver” Impact on Performance-Based Compensation Provisions
•	Client Alert: Transition Relief for Code Section 409A Deferred Compensation Arrangements Extended Until December 31, 2008
•	Client Alert: Transition Relief for Code Section 409A Deferred Compensation Arrangements Partially Extended Until December 31, 2008, Subject to Key Limitations
•	Fundamentals of ESOPs
•	IRS Extends Transition Relief for Code Section 409A Deferred Compensation Arrangements Through 2007
•	Overview of the New Pension Protection Act of 2006
•	Pension Protection Act of 2006 - Plan Assets and Prohibited Transaction Matters
•	IRS Issues Proposed Regulations Under Code Section 409A Covering New Deferred Compensation Rules
•	The New Deferred Compensation Rules
•	Responding To The New Deferred Compensation Legislation
•	NYSE Alert: New Corporate Governance Standard Requiring Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans
•	NYSE Clarifies New Corporate Governance Standard Requiring Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans
•	Stock Option Repricings: Financial Accounting and Tender Offer Compliance Issues

Speaking Engagements

•	Brian D. Robbins to Co-Lead a Discussion at IESE Business School entitled “Astronomically High Executive Pay: Is It Ever Ethical?” May 12, 2011
•	Brian D. Robbins to Speak at PLI’s “The Evolving World of ERISA 2011: An Introduction” Seminar February 18, 2011

Admissions

•	New York 1989

Education

•	Columbia Law School, 1988 J.D. Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, Editor, 1987-1988
•	Amherst College, 1985 B.A.