M. John Burgess is an associate in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. He assists clients with all types of employee benefit plans, including tax-qualified pension plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), health and welfare plans, and executive compensation arrangements. He counsels clients on plan documentation (including drafting plan documents, SPDs, amendments, and plan administrative procedures), plan qualification (including representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service), and other benefit plan issues, including tax and fiduciary matters. In addition, he regularly advises clients on benefits issues in the context of business mergers and acquisitions, including assistance with due diligence on benefit plans sponsored by an acquired company.

Regularly working with employee-owned companies in the unique area of ESOPs, John advises clients on matters such as plan design, distribution policies, the structure and implementation of ESOP transactions, and administration matters. He is active within the ESOP community and frequently presents on ESOP issues at national and regional conferences.

John has significant experience in assisting clients with the correction of errors in both qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, including representing clients in Voluntary Compliance Program applications before the IRS.

He also regularly assists clients with executive employment agreements, severance agreements, change in control agreements and non-qualified deferred compensation plans, including compliance with Internal Revenue Code Sections 409A, 457(b) and 457(f).

John has an extensive tax and accounting background which he uses to complement his benefits practice. He is well versed in individual, corporate and partnership taxation issues at both the federal and state levels. Prior to attending law school, he worked as an auditor for a major accounting firm and he remains licensed as a certified public accountant.