Zahava Blumenthal
Education:
Columbia University School of Law, J.D. 2010, Columbia Journal of Tax Law, Articles Editor, A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual, Managing Editor, Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Staff Editor
Barnard College, B.A. 2005
Admission:
New York
New Jersey
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION & EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ATTORNEY
Zahava is a sophisticated executive compensation and employee benefits adviser with over a decade of experience at leading law firms. She provides trusted counsel to executive leadership teams and individual executives and to employers of all sizes, as well as to boards of directors, benefit plan trustees, investors and fund sponsors. Zahava’s practice includes a special focus on corporate transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and initial public offerings. In addition to representing public and private companies, she counsels executives on complex financial incentives, including in the context of separation packages and advisory arrangements.
Zahava has significant experience developing and implementing equity compensation programs, including profits interests, stock options and restricted stock units. In addition, she drafts and negotiates employment, consulting and severance agreements and designs short- and long-term cash incentive arrangements as well as targeted transaction and retention incentives. In all contexts, she advises practically from a business perspective while drawing on her extensive experience with respect to the tax implications of compensatory arrangements, including a particular focus on Sections 280G and 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.
Zahava also advises on qualified group retirement, welfare and fringe benefit arrangements, including union-sponsored plans, particularly in the context of corporate transactions.