Partner Robert Kohl Quoted in Compliance Week on CEO Compensation Disclosure

Robert Kohl, a partner in the firm's Corporate Practice, was quoted in an article in Compliance Week on a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires companies to calculate and disclose the ratio of CEO compensation to median employee pay. The measure has generated enough backlash that a bill was introduced in Congress to repeal it. Mr. Kohl says the provision aims to highlight the gap between median public company compensation and CEO compensation, which is greater than in most developed countries. "It was thought that by forcing disclosure of the spread between median compensation and CEO compensation, public companies would be embarrassed into lowering CEO compensation—but like many other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, implementation of what is essentially a public policy position is another matter," Mr. Kohl says. He adds that for large companies like IBM or GE, the effort involved in gathering information on hundreds of thousands of employees in hundreds of countries is staggering. ("Debate Heats Up Over CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure," March 29, 2011)