Robert J. Friedman

Robert J. Friedman is a leader in Holland & Knight's national Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and ERISA Practice Group, advising private, nonprofit and governmental employers and executives on the design, compliance and operation of employee benefits and executive compensation programs. Based in Miami, he has significant experience helping clients build benefit and compensation programs that support both their workforce and their business objectives.

Robert counsels employers through every stage of their benefits and compensation programs, including design, drafting, compliance, investments, governance, fiduciary matters, and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents clients before the IRS, U.S. Department of Labor and other governmental agencies, as well as in ERISA-related litigation. Robert also counsels executives on employment agreements, separations and equity compensation matters.

Welfare benefits are another significant part of his practice. Robert advises on the design, implementation, operation and communication of welfare and flexible benefit plans, including the rules governing COBRA continuation coverage, and guides employers on these plans in mergers and acquisitions, reductions in force and other terminations and layoffs.

For privately and publicly owned companies pursuing employee ownership, Robert develops strategies built on stock option plans and other equity and equity-based structures. He creates individually designed plans and helps clients comply with applicable tax and other statutory and regulatory requirements. Robert additionally advises clients on ERISA fiduciary matters and prohibited transactions affecting pensions, investment funds, investors and individual retirement account (IRA) owners.

Robert frequently works alongside Firm colleagues in securities, investment funds, mergers and acquisitions, labor, employment and bankruptcy, and he is a frequent speaker on employee benefits, ERISA fiduciary matters and pension and tax planning. He joined Holland & Knight as a partner in November 1988 after practicing law in New York and Miami. Three decades of leading the Firm's benefits practice give employers an integrated view of how benefits decisions affect their people, compliance obligations and transactions.