Douglas A. Smith

Partner

Direct: 404.873.8796
Fax: 404.873.8797
Atlanta
171 17th Street NW
Suite 2100
Atlanta, Georgia 30363

Biography

Doug is partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice. He is also a member of the Tax and Corporate & Finance practices.

Doug focuses his practice on employee benefits, executive compensation, and ERISA. He advises and assists clients with respect to the design, preparation, communication, administration, interpretation, amendment, and termination of qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and executive compensation plans and agreements. His practice also includes assisting clients with (a) self-correcting and “VCP” corrections of 401(k) plan operational and document failures pursuant to the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”) program, and (b) resolving Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) proposed IRS Letter 226-J employer shared responsibility payment (“ESRP”) penalties.

Doug has extensive experience handling ERISA, employee benefits, and executive compensation aspects of business mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and financial transactions, including drafting and negotiation of benefits representations, covenants, and warranties; due diligence; and problem resolutions. In addition, he has particularly broad experience in the design, drafting, and tax analysis of executive compensation arrangements, including nonqualified deferred compensation, long-term incentive compensation, and equity-based compensation.

Related Services

Experience

  • Has assisted industry leader national Fortune 100 company with respect to employee benefits and executive compensation aspects of its domestic mergers and acquisitions.
  • Counsels and assists top 5 private Atlanta company with respect to non-qualified deferred compensation and other benefits-related matters.
  • Assists employers with eliminating or significantly reducing ACA proposed IRS Letter 226-J (and 5050-J) employer shared responsibility payment (“ESRP”) penalties.
  • Advises and assists companies with self-correction and “VCP” Filings under the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”) of operational failures of their 401(k) plans.
  • Counsels companies in complying with plan design and operational issues stemming from the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”).
  • Counseled fiber-optics bandwidth infrastructure services provider, with respect to employee benefits/executive compensation matters, in connection with its $220 million sale to private equity firm.
  • Advised regional bank in connection with $45 million credit facility to steel manufacturing company, related to the purchase of the company by an employee stock ownership plan (an “ESOP”).
  • Advised and assisted national energy distribution company with self-correction under the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”) of an operational failure of its 401(k) plan.
  • Assisted healthcare client with redesign and drafting of amended and restated phantom stock plan and plan award-related documents.
  • Counseled First Capital in connection with $7.5 million multi-facility loan to Gardner Glass Products, Inc., and its affiliates, with respect to matters related to the ownership of the company by an employee stock ownership plan (an “ESOP”). Gardner Glass is a glass and mirror manufacturing company based in North Carolina.
  • Advised a publicly traded REIT, with respect to employee benefits matters, in connection with a $1.125 billion acquisition and restructuring of a senior housing provider that operated 96 senior-living communities as well as pharmacies in the Midwest.
    Client Successes

    Credentials

    Education
    • University of Florida College of Law, Master of Laws - Taxation
      • Florida Tax Review
    • University of Florida College of Law, Juris Doctor,
      with Honors
      • Order of the Coif
      • Florida Law Review
    • University of Florida, Master of Accounting
    • University of Florida, Bachelor of Science,
      with High Honors
    Admissions
    • State of Georgia – 1994
    Associations
      • Southeast Benefits Education Network (f/k/a Southern Employee Benefits Conference)
      • TE/GE Council, Gulf Coast Area

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