Mr. Earle is a partner in the Charlotte office. A significant portion of Mr. Earle's practice involves counseling publicly traded companies and other complex employers on matters related to executive compensation. Clients include financial services companies, hedge funds, large national retailers, manufacturers and service-companies with global operations.
Mr. Earle's executive compensation practice focuses on counseling clients regarding all aspects of the employment, compensation, benefits and severance of directors, executive officers and other senior managers. Mr. Earle has significant substantive experience with all forms of executive compensation and benefit plans, including the design and administration of stock plans, incentive plans, SERPs, nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements and perquisites (including executive aircraft). Mr. Earle helps clients to understand and comply with tax, securities, labor/employment, governance and other legal issues associated with these arrangements. Mr. Earle has been especially focused on the rapidly changing executive compensation issues emerging out of the global economic crisis of 2008/2009.
Mr. Earle also has a general employee benefits practice in which he assists clients with the design and administration of broadly-available employee benefit programs, including welfare benefit plans and tax-qualified retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans and defined benefit plans.