Stephen L. Ferszt Joins Olshan as Partner in Employee Benefits Practice

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP announced today that Stephen L. Ferszt has joined the firm as partner and practice group leader in the firm’s Employee Benefits practice; he will also be advising clients on tax, estate and succession planning matters as part of the firm’s Tax & Personal Planning practice.

“We are excited that Stephen has joined the firm to support our clients in this much needed dual capacity,” said co-administrative partner Steven R. Gursky.  “Stephen brings a wealth of experience to both Olshan’s Employee Benefits and Tax & Personal Planning practices that will be invaluable to our clients seeking sophisticated advice in an increasingly challenging regulatory landscape for both ERISA and tax issues.”

Mr. Ferszt’s practice is primarily focused on ERISA and employee benefits matters and represents clients on the design, implementation and administration of qualified, non-qualified and welfare benefit plans, including health and life insurance benefits and cafeteria plans. He also counsels corporations and executives on executive compensation matters.

As part of his Tax & Personal Planning practice, Mr. Ferszt advises clients on estate and succession planning, wealth preservation and transfers, as well as their responsibilities as estate fiduciaries.

Mr. Ferszt represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and various state agencies. He also advises boards of directors, companies and plan fiduciaries on a wide range of plan administration matters, including voluntary compliance initiatives with the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Department of the Treasury and the United States Department of Labor, where he has obtained many correction resolutions for his clients.

Mr. Ferszt joins Olshan from Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP where he was a partner and chair of both the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation and the Trusts and Estates practices and was the Chair of the Employee Benefits Executive Compensation practice and it's Trust and Estates practice.

In June 2011, Mr. Ferszt was appointed to serve on the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT). He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel where he is a member of it's Employee Benefits and Estate Planning Committee. He is a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the Small Business Council of America, the IRS Northeast Area Pension Liaison Group, the New Jersey State Bar Association, where he has served as Chair of the Tax Section, the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Mr. Ferszt is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events covering a broad spectrum of topics of interest to attorneys, accountants, third-party administrators and other pension and tax professionals. He received his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and received his B.A. from Boston University, where he was a member Psi Chi (International Honor Society in Psychology).  Mr. Ferszt is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.

About Olshan

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, a law firm based in New York, represents major businesses and entrepreneurs in their most significant transactions, problems and opportunities. Olshan’s clients range from public companies, hedge, venture capital, private equity and other investment funds to entrepreneurs and private companies worldwide. Clients choose Olshan for innovative strategies and sophisticated, game-changing advice in corporate, securities law, equity investment and shareholder activism, complex commercial, corporate and securities litigation, real estate, intellectual property, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, and advertising. Since its founding, Olshan has offered an alternative to the AmLaw 50 law firm business model with responsive, independent and client-focused legal counsel provided by the firm’s senior lawyers.