Stroock & Stroock & Lavan office in Washington, D.C.

Moving swiftly to restock its benefits and compensation practice after lateral departures this year, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan has added a new partner, Austin Lilling, in New York.

Lilling, who arrived at Stroock on Aug. 8, previously led Katten Muchin Rosenman's executive compensation practice. In the last month, Stroock has also hired Patrick Menasco, formerly a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, to its benefits and compensation practice.

Lilling and Menasco are the only partners in the group at Stroock, after the recent departures of Marissa Holob, who joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel in May, and Steven Rabitz, who joined Dechert in June.

While there “was need to supplement the skill set after Marissa and Steve left,” his hiring was not directly tied to their departures, Lilling said. Stroock was “looking to expand the bench strength,” he added.

Lilling, 42, said he and Menasco, based in Washington, D.C., will work together to grow Stroock's Employee Retirement Income Security Act and compensation practice.

He said moving to Stroock was a great opportunity to grow its practice, and he was attracted by the chance to work with other key practices, such as financial restructuring. Lilling also said he was attracted to Stroock for its “solid vision for the future.”

Stroock has recently undergone some structural changes, including creating a nonequity partner tier, helping the firm boost its profits per equity partner.

Lilling advises clients, particularly in the financial services industry, on benefit plans and compensation arrangements. His practice focuses on the design and negotiation of executive compensation, incentive, severance, retention and change in control arrangements, as well as compensation programs related to mergers and acquisitions and other deals. Lilling also advises CEOs and other executives on compensation packages.

Lilling said he has seen an uptick in questions from clients about changes resulting from the 2017 tax legislation. While some of the initially proposed guidance on executive compensation didn't make it into the final legislation, the legislation did eliminate the deduction for certain performance-based compensation, he said.