Lawyer Bio : Michael D. Gunter

Printable Bio (PDF)

Michael D. Gunter

"Mike"

Winston-Salem

Gunter has more than 30 years of experience in all facets of the employee benefits arena, including tax-qualified retirement plans, nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, welfare benefit plans and executive compensation programs (including insurance funded arrangements).

Clients describe Gunter as an astute analyst of complex employee benefits situations, able to quickly identify key issues and craft solutions that anticipate and solve potential problems. Tenacious in his defense of clients’ rights, Gunter focuses on achieving optimum results and pursuing client objectives. He provides an in-depth understanding of the critical employee benefit issues that affect a company’s employee benefits strategy.

Gunter has worked with companies from numerous industries. A representative list of clients includes:

  • manufacturers of high-performance fabrics and related textile products;
  • executives whose companies are being acquired and who are in need of financial protection should an executive be terminated or involuntarily retired following the acquisition;
  • companies in dispute with or responding to an inquiry by the Internal Revenue Service or the Department of Labor;
  • a wireless phone service carrier;
  • furniture manufacturing and sales companies; and,
  • individual physicians and medical groups of all sizes and hospitals.

In 1998, the National Law Journal named Gunter one of the 40 top employee benefits "trendsetters and groundbreakers" in the United States based on a national survey of employee benefits lawyers. Gunter has been named to the prestigious list of "Best Lawyers in America" in the category of Corporate Law (Leveraged Buyouts, Mergers & Acquisitions) as well as Employee Benefits Law in addition to several professional honorary lists. Mike was named a 2010 North Carolina Super Lawyer.

Due to his experience, Gunter serves as the Firm’s Employee Benefits Counsel, responsible for designing and implementing the Firm’s various employee benefit plans.

Additional Biography Info

Click on the headings below to view details

Close

Professional Activities

Bar Associations: Forsyth County Bar Association; North Carolina Bar Association, Tax Section (Former Chairman, Former CLE Chairman), CLE Committee; American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, Employee Benefits Committee; Fellow, American Bar Foundation; Member, Forsyth County Estate Planning Counsel; Member, Southern Employee Benefits Conference; Member, Profit Sharing Council; Member, Rotary; Member, The Association of Private Pension and Welfare Plans; Member, The ESOP Association; Member, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, Charter Fellow; Listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” (1987-2009); “Who’s Who in America” (1996-2008); “Who’s Who in American Law” (1987-2008), “International Who’s Who of Professionals” (1995); “Sterling’s Who’s Who” (1995), and “Strathmore’s Who’s Who” (2009); “Who’s Who in the World” (2008); “North Carolina Super Lawyers” (2008-2010). Admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court; the United States Court of Claims, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals; the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and the United States Tax Court.
 
Admitted to the bar: 1973, North Carolina.

Education

B.A., 1969, Wake Forest University; cum laude; Kappa Sigma Academic Scholarship; Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities; J.D., 1972, University of North Carolina School of Law; cum laude; Law Review; Order of the Coif; Walter Clark Award; Phi Delta Phi (Merit Scholar); M.B.A., 1973, Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania; cum laude; William E. Newcombe Scholarship.

Additional Information

WCSR Management Responsibilities
Practice Group Leader, Employee Benefits Practice Group; Firm Employee Benefits Counsel; Retirement Plan Com mittee; Health Care Plan Committee; Ad Hoc Committee on Firm Benefits; Long Range Planning Committee.

Selected Publications
"Accident and Health Benefits," Chapter 4, J.K. Lasser's Income Tax Techniques (Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.);

"Federal Income Tax Withholding and Employment Tax Rules for Accident and Health Plans," Journal of Pension Planning & Compliance, Volume 9, #1, February, 1983;

"Individual Retirement Accounts After the Tax Reform Act of 1986," General Practice Journal, Volume 3, #1, May, 1988.