Gail W. Stewart

Gail Stewart serves as the chair of the firmwide employee benefits & executive compensation section. She has been in the firm's tax department since 1983 and has extensive experience with the design and implementation of executive compensation arrangements, such as equity-based incentive programs, salary continuation plans, golden parachute arrangements and employment agreements. She also provides counsel to companies on the design and regulatory compliance of pension, profit sharing and employee stock ownership plans and welfare benefit plans.

In the executive compensation area, Ms. Stewart helps clients establish and manage executive compensation plans and arrangements, as well as negotiate and draft employment and severance agreements with senior executives of publicly traded and privately held companies.

Ms. Stewart also regularly advises clients on employee benefits issues attendant to mergers, acquisitions, public offerings and bank loans, as well as on prohibited transactions and fiduciary problems relating to employee benefit plan investments. She represents clients of all sizes, both public and private, in a variety of industries.

Ranked Band 1 for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation in Chambers USA, 2019 & 2020

Recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer (Thomson Reuters), 2003-2018

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White, Inc.), 2005-2018

Recognized as a Houston Top 50 Women in Law from the Texas Diversity Council in 2017

Named a BTI Client Service All-Star for 2017

Recommended in The Legal 500 U.S., 2013

Listed in Super Lawyer Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas (Thomson Reuters), 2010