Kristy Britsch serves as senior counsel to the Corporate and Securities Practice Group.  She has more than a decade of experience advising closely held businesses on incorporating employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) into their business succession planning. Kristy represents businesses of all sizes, as well as selling shareholders and ESOP fiduciaries, in transactions involving employer securities. She enjoys helping her clients navigate the complex legal aspects of an ESOP stock purchase transaction and the issues that arise during the life cycle of the ESOP post-transaction, which includes counsel on ERISA fiduciary matters.

In addition to working on ESOP transactions, Kristy’s practice focuses on general employee benefit and executive compensation matters, including plan design, implementation, and compliance for various types of qualified and non-qualified plans (this includes advising businesses on Code Section 409A matters).  In addition, Kristy supports LP’s corporate attorneys by using her expertise with employee benefit plan and executive compensation issues related to merger and acquisition transactions.

Kristy also represents plan sponsors and fiduciaries with respect to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) examinations and audits and with the resolution of plan defects by utilizing the IRS and DOL correction programs.

Kristy joins LP from Wilmington Trust, where she served as the financial institution’s Vice President of ESOP Services for more than two years where she partnered with attorneys, valuation firms and other professional advisors in ESOP transactions for which Wilmington Trust served as fiduciary. Prior to Wilmington Trust, Kristy was with Dinsmore & Shohl where she advised clients in the ESOP, ERISA and executive compensation areas.