Seth Safra > Proskauer Rose LLP > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Proskauer Rose LLP Offices
1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVE, N.W.
SUITE 600 SOUTH
WASHINGTON, DC 20004-2533
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
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Seth Safra
Work Department
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT
Position
Seth J. Safra is co-chair of Proskauer’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group. Described by clients as “extremely knowledgeable, practical, and strategic,” Seth advises clients on compensation and benefit programs.
Seth’s experience covers a broad range of retirement plan designs, from traditional defined benefit to cash balance and floor-offset arrangements, ESOPs and 401(k) plans—often coordinating qualified and non-qualified arrangements. He also advises tax-exempt and governmental employers on 403(b) and 457 arrangements, as well as innovative new plan designs; and he advises on ERISA compliance for investments.
On the health and welfare side, Seth helps employers provide benefits that are cost-effective and competitive. He advises on plan design, including consumer-driven health plans with HSAs, retiree medical, fringe benefits, and severance programs, ERISA preemption, and tax and other compliance issues, such as nondiscrimination and cafeteria plan rules.
Seth also advises for-profit and non-profit employers, compensation committees, and boards on executive employment, deferred compensation, change in control, and equity and other incentive arrangements. In addition, he advises on compensation and benefits in corporate transactions.
Seth represents clients before the Department of Labor, IRS and other government agencies.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
(Leading lawyers)The ‘top notch’ team at Proskauer Rose LLP has a ‘depth of knowledge’ across executive compensation issues, including corporate governance and employment law expertise. The practice is notably capable at advising clients on single-employer plan compliance, multiemployer plan representation, and extensive fiduciary duty guidance. Alongside private equity firms, hedge funds and asset managers, the team cooperate with a range of entertainment, media, healthcare and energy companies. New York-based Robert Projansky works closely with the entertainment industry, with significant work highlights including providing considerable counsel to The Screen Actors Guild, The American Federation of Musicians, and The Metropolitan Opera Association on a variety of complex issues regarding health and welfare plans and pension funds. Team head Paul Hamburger, who is based in Washington DC, has ‘significant subject matter expertise and experience’, and regularly advises national and global employers on IRS audits, health care reform and wellness programs. DC’s Seth Safra co-heads the team and competently handles ERISA, tax, and laws concerning qualified and nonqualified retirement plans. Justin Alex primarily aids financial sponsors on both single-employer and multiemployer pension plans and New Orleans-based Jennifer Rigterink is active on matters involving regulatory, legislative and legal compliance issues.
United States > Tax > Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations)
Key names among Proskauer Rose LLP ‘s diverse client base include the Women’s Tennis Association and The Museum of Modern Art, and more generally the group represents a wide variety of public charities and private foundations, as well as not-for-profit organizations in a range of sectors. Amanda Nussbaum in New York is at the helm of the group alongside Seth Safra in Washington DC and is known for advising not-for-profit clients on matters such as gaining exemption from federal income tax, keeping down unrelated business taxable income, and structuring joint ventures and partnerships with taxable entities. Safra, as a member of the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation group, is adept at advising nonprofit employers on executive employment issues, signifying a wider strength of the group. Another key lawyer is New York-based David Miller, a member of the firm’s tax department, who advises numerous not-for-profit clients day-to-day on tax related issues.
United States > Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
Counting Fortune 500 companies, CEOs of public and private corporations, and C-Suite executives among its list of clients, the Proskauer Rose LLP team has vast expertise in handling all aspects of compensation relating to complex spin-offs and M&A, with a nationwide team advising on all tax, securities, corporate governance, ERISA, and employment law issues. New York-based Andrea Rattner is highly experienced in counselling on benefits matters arising in all types of corporate transactions, while Ira Bogner frequently provides ERISA fiduciary practice expertise in connection with private fund formations. In Los Angeles, Colleen Hart advises executives and boards of directors on the tax planning and securities aspects of employee benefits and compensation matters. From Washington DC, Seth Safra assists clients with their health and welfare plans, and co-heads the team together with Paul Hamburger, who focuses on employee benefit plan-related matters. Robert Projansky, who operates out of the New York office, is knowledgeable on tax-qualification of ERISA-covered pension and welfare plans.
Lawyer Rankings
- Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design United States > Labor and employment
- Leading lawyers United States > Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional United States > Labor and employment
- Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations) United States > Tax
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Industry focus > Sport
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Insurance > Advice to policyholders
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Tax > International tax
- Tax > Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending