Press Release

Leading Executive Compensation and Benefits Lawyer Michael Bergmann Joins Cadwalader

Issued by Cadwalader

Nov. 26, 2021

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP today announced that Michael R. Bergmann has joined the firm as a partner in the firm’s Corporate Group and will be based in Washington, D.C.

Bergmann counsels clients on executive compensation, employee benefits and ERISA matters. He devotes a significant portion of his practice to advising major public corporations and private companies on executive compensation and employee benefit arrangements in the context of mergers and acquisitions and other transformative business transactions.

He joins the firm from Skadden, where he was a member of the firm’s Executive Compensation and Benefits practice.     

“Michael is a highly experienced and highly regarded executive compensation lawyer,” said Cadwalader managing partner Pat Quinn. “We know he will be an important advisor to our clients and an outstanding leader of our executive compensation practice.”

William Mills, co-leader of Cadwalader’s Corporate Group, said, “We are delighted to have such a dynamic and talented lawyer as Michael joining our team. He has an outstanding track record and has worked on a number of high-profile, complex transactions.”

Added Richard Brand, co-leader of the firm’s Corporate Group: “Michael has decades of experience advising boards of directors on executive compensation and benefits matters. He will be an invaluable resource to our clients – including public and private companies, boards of directors and investors – as they navigate an increasingly complex executive compensation and governance landscape.”

Bergmann has nearly three decades of experience in a wide range of executive compensation and benefits matters. In particular, he has extensive experience with SEC rules governing compensation disclosure and the tax rules applicable to executive compensation.

He regularly advises small and large public and private companies and individual senior executives on adopting and revising employment, severance, and cash and equity incentive compensation agreements and arrangements. Among other matters, he also counsels clients on the rules governing tax-qualified retirement vehicles, the taxation of employee welfare benefits and the application of ERISA to the administration of such arrangements and their assets.

“Cadwalader is widely known throughout the legal industry for its work on truly innovative transactions for sophisticated, high-profile clients,” Bergmann said. “I am very excited about joining the firm, and I am committed to finding creative and compelling solutions for our clients’ biggest challenges.”

Bergmann’s arrival follows a number of significant partner additions at Cadwalader, including: a market-leading litigation team from Boies Schiller, led by Nicholas Gravante and including Philip Iovieno, Karen Dyer, and Lawrence Brandman in global litigation; M. Chadwick Stackhouse in fund finance; Daniel Meade in bank regulatory; Mark Beardsworth, Kevin Roberts, Mark Grider, Rachel Rodman, and Philip Khinda in white collar defense and investigations; Doug Gansler to lead the State Attorneys General practice; Michael Newell in funds formation; and Matthew Duncan in capital markets.

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