William W. Merten is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm’s Chicago office. He focuses his practice on business succession planning and executive compensation. He speaks frequently for various organizations on succession planning alternatives and related tax planning techniques.
Mr. Merten chairs the McDermott Will & Emery ESOP team and he has advised corporations, shareholders, directors and various professionals regarding the use of ESOPs and ESOP-related strategies in the wide variety of transactions (including management buyouts, ownership succession transactions, private equity transactions, going private transactions, mergers and acquisitions). Mr. Merten currently serves on the Administration Advisory Committee of the ESOP Association.
Mr. Merten has been appointed to the Leading Lawyers Network, received an AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell for the past 11 years (the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards), named a Top Attorney in Illinois by Chicago Magazine’s Super Lawyer section for the past 3 years and nominated for inclusion in the 2010 edition of Chambers USA. He has in the past been an executive compensation professor for DePaul University’s Masters of Law in Taxation program and a qualified plan professor for DePaul’s Masters of Science in Taxation program. He previously also served on DePaul’s Masters of Law (in Taxation) Advisory Committee.
Mr. Merten has authored and co-authored chapters pertaining to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) (The ESOP Association Administrative Handbook, as amended through 2009, and The Handbook of Employee Stock Ownership Plans, copyright 1989 by Probus Publishing), tax procedure (Bender’s Federal Tax Service, copyright 1990 by Matthew Bender), corporate organizations, mergers and acquisitions, liquidations, installment sales and cafeteria plans (Callaghan’s Federal Tax Guide, 1989 by Callaghan & Company). He has also authored and co-authored articles regarding the use of ESOPs to structure acquisitions and divestitures in an uncertain economy (Inside M&A, May/June 2009), the manner in which S corporation ESOPs can be used to create investment, acquisition and exit strategies for private equity groups (Insights, Winter 2006), the use of ESOPs and stock based compensation to facilitate liquidity, business succession planning, intergenerational wealth transfer and employee ownership (Insights, Spring 2001), S corporation ESOPs (The Illinois ESOP Association Newsletter, Fall 1997), ESOP prohibited allocation rules (The Journal For Employee Ownership, Summer 1997), the use of Section 401(k) contributions to repay ESOP acquisition loans (Perils, Prospective, Fall 1995), the corporate and partnership aspects of ESOP transactions (ALI ABA Speech Outlines, September 1989 and January 1991, Major Tax Planning, copyright 1990 by The University of Southern California, New York University 49th Annual Institute on Federal Taxation, Fall 1990, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, November, 1991), tax free ESOP rollovers (ESOPs 1989; Advanced Techniques, copyright 1989 by Law Journal Seminar Press), and the corporate alternative minimum tax (Taxation for Lawyers, June 1988).
Education
- Wayne State University Law School, J.D., 1980
- New York University School of Law, LL.M. in Taxation, 1981
- Michigan State University, B.A. (high honors), 1977
