Jackson Lewis LLP, one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing workplace law firms, is pleased to announce Samuel W. Krause has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as Of Counsel. Mr. Krause joins Jackson Lewis with over a decade of experience in the practice of employee benefits law.

Mr. Krause’s expertise covers a wide range of employee benefits areas, including work on executive compensation, stock options and other equity-based compensation plans; employee benefits issues in structured finance transactions, private equity and hedge fund formation, bankruptcy proceedings, and proxy contests; ESOP transactions, including financing arrangements, and advising boards of directors, institutional trustees and investment managers as to their fiduciary obligations; and representation of clients before the DOL, IRS and the PBGC.

Mr. Krause formerly practiced employee benefits law at Skadden Arps in Los Angeles, as well as Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Hogan & Hartson in New York City. From 1996, while in law school, until 2001, he also worked as an investigator in the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (now the Employee Benefits Security Administration) of the United States Department of Labor.

Mr. Krause is the latest West Coast addition to Jackson Lewis’ rapidly-expanding Employee Benefits Counseling and Litigation Group, which was enhanced in January 2012 when five attorneys from the prominent employee benefits, tax and litigation law boutique Johanson Berenson LLP joined the firm. Nationally-recognized benefits/ESOP/ERISA practitioner and defense litigator David R. Johanson practices in Jackson Lewis’ Los Angeles office and Napa location along with Associate Monica R. Patel. Partner Rachel J. Markun and Associate Teresa Y. Huang service clients from the firm’s Napa location, while Douglas A. Rubel resides in Jackson Lewis’ Raleigh, North Carolina office.

Michael Jacobster, Jackson Lewis’ Employee Benefits Counseling and Litigation Practice Group Leader, said, “Sam is a welcome addition to the firm’s growing benefits practice. He is a sophisticated practitioner who will contribute significantly to meeting the expanding needs of clients in California, the West Coast and nationally.”

“We are so pleased to add Sam’s benefits knowledge and depth of experience to our Los Angeles team,” said David Johanson. “His arrival significantly enhances our regional and national practice and gives us the opportunity to more fully serve our clients in the area who have complex employee benefits needs.”

Mr. Krause is currently admitted to practice in New York and California. He graduated from California State University at Northridge in 1995 with a B.A. in History as well as his name on the Dean’s List from 1992-1995. Mr. Krause earned his J.D. with distinction from the Hofstra University School of Law in 1998 and received his LLM in Tax from the New York University School of Law the following year.

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