Ira G. Bogner is Managing Partner of the Firm. He is the immediate former chair of the Firm’s Tax Department. He is a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group and the Firm's Executive Committee. Ira represents a varied list of clients, including financial service companies, entertainment industry clients, and tax-exempt organizations, and also actively represents individual executives in executive compensation matters.
Ira counsels clients with respect to the tax, securities law disclosure, corporate governance, stock exchange and other requirements relevant to executive compensation arrangements. Ira also provides advice regarding equity arrangements, employment agreements, change in control agreements and all other types of executive compensation arrangements, including guidance regarding “409A,” “162m,” “457A,” and “280G.”
Ira frequently is called on to structure and analyze alternative investments for pension trusts and other exempt organizations. He also works with the Firm’s corporate and real estate lawyers in structuring and maintaining investment funds that include participation by pension plans. Through his work in the investment fund area Ira has obtained substantial experience in applying the rules provided under the “plan asset” regulations, including the operation of venture capital operating companies and real estate operating companies. He has assisted in the formation of private equity, real estate, infrastructure and hedge funds, including “fund of funds.” Ira also has advised clients on both avoiding ERISA “plan asset” status and operating an investment fund in accordance with ERISA.
Areas of Concentration
Ira has provided guidance to clients on a wide variety of matters in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation, including:
- investment of plan assets
-
implementation of employee benefit plans
-
employee benefit issues in mergers and acquisitions
-
awarding of equity-based compensation
-
negotiation and drafting of employment agreements and severance arrangements
-
structuring, analyzing and maintaining investment funds that are suitable for plan investors
Thought Leadership
Ira has published a number of articles in publications such as The New York Law Journal, The New Jersey Law Journal, The Daily Deal, The Journal of Pension Planning and Compliance, Mergers and Acquisitions (The Monthly Tax Journal), The Journal of Taxation and Regulation of Financial Institutions, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, European Private Equity & Venture Capital Associations, The LPA Anatomised and Private Equity International and has been named to the Board of Advisors of the Journal of Taxation and Regulation of Financial Institutions. He also has lectured on topics such as the classification of workers, drafting employment agreements, equity alternatives for senior executives, investing IRA assets, the plan asset regulations, shareholder approval of equity plans, Code Section 409A, and key provisions for ERISA investors investing in a private equity fund.
Recognition
Ira has been recognized and ranked by various directories. US Legal 500 has carried the following comments: “Ira Bogner is ‘available, responsive and knowledgeable;” “Ira Bogner ‘provides a level of comfort with respect to business issues that is rare in the world of ERISA;” “Ira Bogner is the ‘go-to guy for fund sponsors needing help with ERISA.’"
Education
- Fordham University School of Law, J.D.
-
Brandeis University, B.A.
cum laude
Admissions & Qualifications
- New York
- Connecticut
Memberships
- New York City Bar Association:
- Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Committee
- ERISA Fiduciary Duties and Plan Investments Subcommittee
Awards & Recognition
Best Lawyers in America: Lawyer of the Year, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, New York City 2025
Best Lawyers in America 2012-2025
Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers 2022-2025
Chambers USA: New York: Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 2014-2023
Chambers USA: Nationwide: Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 2016-2018
The Legal 500 United States: U.S. Tax: Non-Contentious 2017, 2020-2022
The Legal 500 United States: International Tax 2016, 2018-2022
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment - Executive Compensation 2009, 2013-2016, 2019-2023
The Legal 500 United States: Tax - Domestic Tax - East Coast 2014-2015
The Legal 500 United States: Tax - Employee Benefits 2008-2011
The Legal 500 United States: Investment Fund Formation - Private Equity Funds 2008-2009
The Legal 500 United States: Investment Fund Formation - Alternative/Hedge Funds 2009
The Legal 500 United States: Investment Fund Formation & Management 2008-2009
The Legal 500 United States: Corporate and Finance Edition 2007
The Legal 500 United States: Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans: Transactional 2024
Top 100 New York Super Lawyers 2010
New York Super Lawyers 2007-2022
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Tax Talks Blog
Read the latest updates and insights on tax law
Edited by Robert E. Gaut, Martin T. Hamilton and Colleen Hart