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Nicholas LaSpina

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As a partner in the Compensation & Benefits Group, Nick's practice focuses on executive compensation and benefits matters in public and private companies, including in the context of mergers and acquisitions. Nick advises clients - encompassing company-side and management-side representations - on a broad spectrum of matters, including the design and negotiation of senior executive employment and separation agreements; equity incentive programs; short- and long-term cash-based incentives; and public company disclosure issues related to executive compensation matters. His holistic and solution-oriented approach seeks to provide cutting-edge legal advice in a practical context that is responsive to his clients' goals.

Nick's experience also includes advising clients on "prohibited transaction" issues under Title I of ERISA in lending and other financial transactions (including subscription credit facilities; asset-backed loans; and repurchase ("repo") transactions).

Nick received his LL.M. in Taxation from the New York University School of Law, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he served as a Senior Articles Editor on the Cardozo Law Review.

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As previously reported in Proskauer’s client alert (available here), on May 19, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant amendments to its public company reporting framework to simplify the existing filer status regime and substantially expand eligibility for scaled disclosure accommodations. Consistent with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ plan to “Make IPOs Great…

Earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Form 15620, which is an approved IRS form for making Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 83(b) elections.  By way of background, Code Section 83(b) provides taxpayers with the ability to include the fair market value of nonvested property over the amount (if any) paid for…

proskauer benefits brief podcast

In this episode of The Proskauer Benefits Brief, David Teigman, partner in the Tax Department and a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group, Josh Apfelroth, partner in the Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions Group and Nick LaSpina, senior counsel in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group discuss shareholder activism in the public company context and more specifically within the framework of executive compensation. Because executive compensation can be a hot‑button topic for shareholders and can be implicated in a variety of activist situations, be sure to tune in for the latest insights into these matters.


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The Tax Court’s May 3, 2023, decision in ES NPA Holding, LLC v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo 2023‑55), upholding a taxpayer’s position to characterize a partnership interest as a profits interest under the “safe harbor” of IRS Revenue Procedure 93-27 (as clarified by IRS Revenue Procedure 2001-43), provides helpful guidance to issuers of profits interests, including private equity funds and other investment partnerships and their portfolio companies.