Diana Defino advises clients on complex employee benefits and executive compensation matters, including in the context of acquisitions, dispositions, mergers, and executive transitions.
She has counseled clients on more than 100 completed transactions, including Evoqua Water Technologies Corp.'s recent $7.5 billion stock-for-stock merger with Xylem Inc.; Labcorp's spin-off of its clinical development business resulting in a new public company, Fortrea Holdings, Inc.; Alcoa's sale of its rolling mill business to Kaiser Aluminum for $670 million; and Shiseido's acquisition of the Drunk Elephant skincare brand for $845 million.
Diana also regularly prepares and negotiates employment, separation, bonus, and change-of-control agreements for public and private company clients. She advises clients with respect to equity incentive arrangements and the administration and compliance of benefit plans with the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act), and she also drafts and reviews proxy and other disclosures for public company clients. In addition, Diana has experience drafting disclosures related to the golden parachute payment tax implications of executive compensation arrangements in transactions.
Diana was recognized as one of ALM's Legal Intelligencer's "Lawyers on the Fast Track" in 2021 and as "Ones to Watch" in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. She also serves as a chair of a subcommittee of the Diversity, Inclusion and Advancement Committee in the Pittsburgh Office and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Propel Schools Foundation (which supports the mission of Propel Schools, a group of nonprofit charter schools in the Pittsburgh area).
Experiencia
- February 8, 2024
"Benefit Trends in Mergers & Acquisitions," Worldwide Employee Benefits Network presentation, Cleveland, Ohio
- Washington and Lee University (J.D. magna cum laude 2014; Staff Writer, Washington and Lee Law Review); University of Notre Dame (B.A. magna cum laude 2009)
- Pennsylvania
"Ones to Watch," The Best Lawyers in America (2025)
"Lawyers on the Fast Track," ALM's Legal Intelligencer (2021)