Name: Alson R. Martin
Item: Alson R. Martin
Author: amartin

Bio

Alson R. Martin is a Partner of Lathrop Gage LLP in Overland Park, Kansas. The firm also has other offices in Los Angeles, California; Denver & Boulder, Colorado; Washington, D.C. (EnGage, LLC).; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; as well as Kansas City, St. Louis, Jefferson City, Springfield & Columbia, Missouri.

Mr. Martin represents primarily privately owned businesses and has represented several hundred businesses, including many professional practices, and approximately 500 ERISA qualified retirement and welfare benefit plans.

Al is a recognized national authority in the fields of employee benefits, tax, corporate, health, and business law. Until 2016, he was the author of the book Limited Liability Companies and Partnerships (3d ed. 2016) and is co‑author of the book Kansas Corporation Law & Practice (Including Tax Aspects) (5th ed. 2011). Through 2016 he was the author of the book Healthcare Reform Facts, a book designed to help businesses and their advisors comply with Obamacare. He is also author of “Doing Business In Kansas” (part of the BNA Corporate Practice Series and Tax Management's State Tax Library), formerly Technical Editor, The 401(k) Adviser (1995 – 2012), and author of a monthly newsletter, dealing with ERISA pension and welfare benefit plans’ planning and litigation, contracts, tax, which is distributed monthly for a national study group of approximately 200 advisors (attorneys, actuaries, and CPAs).

He actively works with ERISA, employee benefits, employee welfare benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), qualified retirement plans (defined contribution and defined benefit), and related employee benefits matters. With respect to ERISA matters, he represents employers, plans, and fiduciaries.

Additionally, he has written many articles in various publications on employee benefits, including The Financial Planner, University of Kansas Law Review, Journal of Pension Planning, Digest of Tax Articles, Journal of the Kansas Bar Association, The Financial Planner Magazine, The Practical Accountant Magazine, The Monthly Digest of Tax Articles, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, The Small Business Council of America Alert, ALI-ABA Course Materials, Journal of Taxation of Employee Benefits, ABA Tax Section Course Materials, American Bar Association Annual Meeting Materials, and The Small Business Controller.

Mr. Martin is a Fellow, American College of Tax Counsel as well as a Fellow, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel; Former President and current Vice-President & Director of the Small Business Council of America; Life Member, American Tax Policy Institute; and Chair of the American Bar Association Tax Section (“ABA Tax” Personal Service Organizations (1984-96). Additionally, he has been active with ABA Tax as a member of the Closely-Held Business Organizations Committee, Health Law Group, and Limited Liability Company Task Force. He was a member of The National ESOP Association Administration Advisory Committee; and Past President and member of the Executive Committee of the Kansas Bar Association Tax Section. He has been admitted to the bar in both Kansas and New York.

Mr. Martin is listed in the book The Best Lawyers in America (since inception in 3 categories), Corporate Counsel's Top Lawyers, Missouri-Kansas Super Lawyers, Ingram’s Best Lawyers in Kansas City, Super Lawyers National Business Edition, and Euromoney’s Guide To Leading U.S. Tax Lawyers. He was the recipient of the Best Lawyers’ 2010 Kansas City, KS Corporate Lawyer of the Year and the “Outstanding Service Award” from the Kansas Bar Association for l985. He formerly taught tax law as an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri-Kansas City law schools.

Mr. Martin was co-chair for over a decade of the ALI-ABA Advanced Course of Study “Qualified Plans, PCs, and Welfare Benefits.” He has also spoken on ERISA employee benefits issues to many business and professional organizations, including: the national meetings of American Bar Association Tax Section, The ESOP Association Annual Convention, Creative Pension & Benefit Strategies, Southern Federal Tax Conference, Notre Dame Estate Planning Symposium, Ohio Pension Conference, Georgia Tax Conference, Great Lakes Tax Conference, Mountain States Pension Conference, Kansas Tax Conference, and the Kansas Bar Association Annual Meeting.

Al was adjunct professor of law at Kansas University (1977-1979) and UMKC (1976-1979) Law Schools where he taught corporate tax, partnership tax, and business planning courses.

He was co-counsel with Susman & Godfrey of Houston, Texas, for the plaintiffs in a case involving the establishment and operating of Burlington Industries’ ESOP. The defendants (Morgan Stanley, NationsBank, and Burlington Industries) paid the plaintiffs $27.5 million in 1996, the largest settlement/verdict to that date in any ESOP case.

He was a Trustee of Johnson County Community College from 1977-81. In addition, Mr. Martin has been active in legislative matters. He drafted the Kansas statute, the second in the U.S., that exempts qualified retirement plan and individual retirement account assets from creditors’ claims. In addition, in 1990, Mr. Martin co-authored the Kansas Limited Liability Company Statute, the fourth enacted in the country. In addition, Mr. Martin assisted in drafting the Limited Liability Company Statute for the state of Missouri. He served as a Delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in June, 1995, and the 2006 Savers’ Summit in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Martin attended the University of Kansas. At KU he was a Summerfield Scholar, served as Student Body President, received a B.A. with highest distinction, and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. He then attended the New York University School of Law as a Root Tilden Scholar. While in law school he was Note & Comment Editor of the N.Y.U. Law Review, and earned both a J.D. (cum laude) and an LL.M. in taxation. Mr. Martin worked for Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, a New York City Wall Street law firm, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1972. He then served in the U.S. Navy as a Judge Advocate, after which he returned to the Kansas City area and was admitted to the Kansas Bar in 1976.

Honors

Named the Kansas City, Kan. Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, 2014

Awarded the Small Business Council of America Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013

Selected as one of the American Lawyer Media & Martindale-Hubbell™ Top Rated Lawyers in Health Care

Named the Kansas City, Kan. Tax Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, 2013

Selected for Super Lawyers Business Edition - 2011 to date

Selected as Best Lawyers Kansas City, Kansas, Corporate Lawyer of the Year - 2010

Fellow of both the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel

Selected in The Best Lawyers in America^{^{^®}}, since its inception, in three categories

Chambers America's Leading Lawyers for Business

Outstanding Lawyers of America, Guide to Leading U.S. Tax Lawyers

Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers, 2007 to date

Martindale-Hubbell^{^{^®}} “AV” Rating

Root Tilden Scholar

Law Review, Note & Comment Editor

Phi Beta Kappa

Summerfield Scholar

Professional Affiliations

Past President & currently Vice President for Healthcare Reform, and Director, Small Business Council of America (SBCA)

Alson R. Martin

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