Mike Melbinger is a partner in the Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice in the international law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP. He also is an Adjunct Professor of Law at both the University of Illinois and Northwestern University Law Schools. Mike is the author of the CCH treatise Executive Compensation, now in its Second Edition, the American Bankers Association’s Compliance Guide to Employee Benefit Trusts, "Melbinger's Compensation Blog" for CompensationStandards.com, the first and still most widely read blog on the topic, and more than 75 articles on executive compensation and employee benefits topics. He is also on the editorial boards of The Corporate Executive, myNQDC.com and Practical Tax Strategies. Mike practices exclusively in the area of executive compensation and employee benefit issues for corporations, partnerships, executives, boards of directors and fiduciaries. He also handles the benefits and compensation issues in litigation, bankruptcy, change in control, and public offering situations. Mike was elected as a fellow into the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel in 2005. Each year since 2007, he has been named a Leading Lawyer for Business by Chamber & Partners and o Mike received a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1980 and a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1983