I hope this email finds you and your family in good health.  We are now well into our first full Winter month.  We have had our cold days and some snow.  There has been more snow in northern New England ski country.  My hope is that there will be lots of snow in ski country and not so much in Boston and the urban areas.  So, if you are a winter sports enthusiast, I hope there will great winter conditions for skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing or ice fishing the next couple months.  And for those, like me, who prefer the warmth, I hope you will be able to take at least some vacation time to warmer places.

In sports, the Patriots continue their magical season finishing the regular season as division champs and 2nd seed in the AFC, and then two nights ago to win their first playoff game 16-3 over San Diego.  QB Drake May, Coach Mike Vrabel, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, stellar Pats’ defense all shown so well. We can hope this roll will continue and we will see how far the Pats might advance in these 2026 NFL Playoffs  – with the Feb. 2026 Super Bowl in Santa Clara, CA  not beyond the realm of possibility. Fingers crossed.   And even while the Pats have played so well commanding our attention, our Boston winter teams have also been doing well of late.  The Celtics 9-3 in recent games, are 3rd in the Eastern Conference and just behind the Knicks in the Atlantic Division standings.  The Bruins too have won 5 of the last 6 games to also climb in the standings. In college hockey, Boston University has improved of late and February’s Beanpot tournament looks to be quite competitive with all four Beanpot  schools ranked in the USA top 20 (as of 1/12/26), led by Northeastern (12), then Boston College (14), BU (18) and Harvard (20).  https://www.espn.com/mens-college-hockey/rankings

As for Newsletter items, eight days ago, IVYEXEC career advancement website published my article on using the implied covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing to protect what you have earned when you are terminated by your employer in bad faith, with an article link provided in item #1.  A link to an earlier article of mine, on negotiating a compensation package right for you, published in  CEOWORLD magazine, appears in items #3,  Additionally,  a link to another earlier article of mine published in CEOWORLD, this one on the subject of negotiating your first C-level employment agreement,  appears in item #4, plus a special offer as item #5. I hope some of these items might be of benefit… and my best wishes to all for the rest of January!

1.       Protecting Your Earnings from Unfair Dealing by Your Employer
As a C-level or senior executive, have you ever faced employment termination or other employer action to prevent you from receiving a bonus, stock vesting or other benefit you earned from your successful achievement of a target objective for the company? My article published eight days ago on Jan.5, by IVYEXEC career advancement website,  discusses an important duty or implied covenant in the law that can enable you, even if you are an employee “at will”,  to have a valid enforceable claim against your employer to be made whole for what you earned and were deprived of ..  Read the Article Here

2.       Work with CEOs, C-Suite and Senior Executives, exclusively.
Robert Adelson is an attorney specialized in the representation of CEOs, C-level and senior executives. He no longer represents companies or employers.  Learn about Robert Adelson’s work with CEOs, C-level and senior executives to advise on and improve job offers, employment contracts, stock, RSUs, options, bonuses and other executive compensation matters, plus advice and aid on issues of wrongful termination, severance, exit terms, retention, change of control, other executive issues and more … More Details Here

3.      Negotiating the Right Executive Compensation Package for You
Whether you have just received a job offer, have a chance to renegotiate your current contract, or are facing a change of control or termination situation, my article published by CEOWORLD magazine in 2018 and still relevant today, may benefit you, as I discuss key payment, equity, benefits, and other terms to negotiate in your executive compensation package and how those negotiations can actually enhance your position in the company.  Read the Article Here

4.        Negotiating your first C-Level Executive Employment Agreement
Are you a newly-minted CEO or another C-level executive?  Did you receive your first C-level job offer or employment agreement? My article published in CEOWORLD magazine, in March 2020 and still relevant today,  may benefit you, as I discuss why the agreement is important to the company and to you, and key terms – equity, bonus structure, severance among them – on which to focus in your negotiations.. Read the Article Here

5.      1/2026 Offer:  Good until Jan. 27th  
This 2-week value-packed offer, is as a way to get introduced to my law work: Consulting Between Executive Positions Law Diagnostic -- this offer is good through 1/27/26.   More Details Here

It’s always a pleasure to get back in touch with you and other clients, friends, and colleagues.  I hope the links and information provided will be useful to you and that there will be an opportunity for me to work with you on legal matters in the near future. 

Let’s keep in touch!
​
Best regards,
Rob
Robert Adelson

​*Adelson & Associates, LLC
Executive Employment Attorney
101 Federal Street, 19th Floor
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 204-5601 Law Firm
(617) 204-5602 Direct
(617) 204-5604 Fax
Email :  [email protected]
Website: www.executiveemploymentattorney.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adelson-b8a1557/
Blog:  https://robadelson.wordpress.com/
X:  @AttorneyAdelson

Note on Adelson & Associates, LLC:
* Robert A. Adelson is the Principal of Adelson & Associates, LLC.  For fifteen (15) years, from October 2004 through December 2019, Robert Adelson practiced law and referred legal work to associates of his, trusted and experienced colleagues, as a partner of Engel & Schultz, LLP.  In December 2019, the lead partners of the firm announced they would go into semi-retirement, go their separate ways, and the office lease would expire in January 2020.  In response, Robert Adelson formed Adelson & Associates, LLC in December 2019 and commenced the new firm’s operations on January 1, 2020, with the new firm taking over, on that date and going forward, all current Robert Adelson clients, matters and operations, as well as all referral of legal work to associates of Robert Adelson.  Since 1/1/2020, the firm’s offices have been and remain at 101 Federal Street, 19th Floor, across the street from the pre-2020 offices at One Federal Street, 21st Floor, in Boston’s Financial District.

July 2025 Edition
We are now into summer. Hopefully, you and your family will be enjoying July 4th / Independence Day holiday this weekend and perhaps that might even continue with a further family vacation. Whether cookouts, picnics, clambakes, time at the beach and seashore, or the lakes, swimming, sailing, biking, walking, hiking or out at the golf links or taking in a ballgame at Fenway Park, I hope you and yours are enjoying summer fun.
For me, I am back in the office after a West of Ireland music vacation in June. The two week trip was led by the folk duo Four Shillings Short https://4shillingsshort.com/ poetry, traditional Irish music, amazing sites, culture, cuisine, with wonderful traveling companions from across the US as we journeyed to Ennis, Dingle Town, Sligo and Clifden in the Connemara of County Galway. There was some singing as well. Though I am certainly no Liam Clancy or Tommy Makem (my idols), it was great fun for me to do vocals on several of their Irish ballads I knew, at pubs and other venues along the way. And a bonus: We had a night of watching Hurling, the national sports passion of all Ireland, at Gracie’s Bar, Sligo. And what a night it was! We witnessed underdog team of County Cork topple the perennial titans Limerick, in a positive thriller. More on that event in Newsletter item #2. Though I’m now back at work in Boston, as you can tell, my head is still a bit on Emerald Isle.
Sadly, before I left for vacation, the Boston Celtics went down to defeat in the second round against the Knicks and we can only hope that Jason Tatum heals and perhaps a new credible challenge might be mounted next year at TD Garden for NBA championship #19. I was back to see the Red Sox trade Rafi Devers in a classic salary dump, so here’s hoping the money saved will be used by Kennedy / Breslow to bring in a new bat to replace Rafi’s. So, as the Sox go back and forth and Alex Cora does his best to get the Sox over .500, they are at least competitive and I love the history and excitement of attending the ballgames at Fenway and later this month will visit with good friends Polar Park for the WooSox. So, whichever sport you are watching or better still participating in, I hope you are enjoying it as well. (Also, with our Boston professional sports scene a bit of a lull right now, I hope my item #2 below will be a fun (though brief) diversion for you to unusual and quite exciting sports event, which took place “across the pond”.)
As for Newsletter items, on June 25, 2025, CEOWORLD magazine published an article I wrote on the value that hiring the right executive employment attorney can have for you as a C-level or senior executive, with the focus on the significant benefits the right attorney can help you achieve in five different and important events in the course of your executive career. Then after the fun vacation article on Hurling #2, this newsletter also has links, in items #4 and #5, to two other earlier executive career articles of mine. The first article, published in 2023 in IVYEXEC, the career advancement website, on the hurdles faced by women CEOs and senior executives, and offers strategies to you on how to succeed and keep your career on its upward trajectory. The second article published in 2024 in IVYEXEC advises the senior executive who is being forced out of his or her position, offering strategies on how to quit your current position and still gain appropriate executive severance compensation in connection with your separation. There is also a special offer as item #6, an Executive Issues Law Diagnostic. I hope some of these items might be of benefit… and my best wishes to all for the rest of July!
1. What is the value in hiring the Right Executive Employment Attorney?Do you have a C-level or senior executive job offer? Are you facing a change of control? Are you being forced out of your current position? … or have you already been terminated and are being asked to sign a release of claims? Perhaps you are reluctant to seek assistance because you have already had bad experiences with attorneys. So you might reasonably ask — what is the value of hiring an executive employment attorney, even if I somehow got the right one? My new article, published a week ago in CEOWORLD magazine, shows how hiring the right executive employment lawyer can pay off for you …often immediately ..often dramatically. The article first discusses the things that you, as CEO, C-level or senior executive ought to look for to find that right attorney. Then in the “show and tell” part of the article, I walk you through five different areas of executive representation, covering different kinds of events, each event quite significant, that you are likely to face in the course of your executive career where such dramatic results are often achieved for the executive who has chosen carefully and obtained the right legal representation for this important work. Read the article here
2. Hurling Championship “for the ages” (my Éire vacation highlight)Three weeks ago, on June 7, I led a group of ten to Gracie’s Bar, the top sports bar in Sligo town, Ireland, to watch on the “telly” County Cork vs. County Limerick in the Munster Hurling finals. In this #2 newsletter item, I share my recent Facebook post: a fun highlight from my vacation that perhaps you too might enjoy as a wee bit of light summer / beach reading (especially where the Boston Globe sports page is a bit dull right now). To start — Hurling? What the heck is Hurling? Just the absolute national passion of all Ireland. The game played for more than 1,000 years in Ireland, with the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the highest-tier competition for inter-county hurling in Ireland, contested in every year except one since 1887. That is, it predates the NFL, NHL, NBA. So that among major US sports only Baseball’s National League founded in 1876 is older (the AL founded in 1901). The game is a mixture of the best parts of lacrosse, baseball, rugby, played on a “pitch” much larger than a football or soccer field (145–160 yards). Unlike soccer or hockey, where shots on net count nothing, in hurling, it’s 3 points, for hitting the ball past the goalie into the net, but 1 point if you can hit the hurling ball between the high uprights above goalie and net.. So, using their sticks as baseball bats if a player can get free of the rugby-type scrum, he can score from 80 yards or more out if he can hit it through the uprights. Our match was a positive nail-biter: teams were “level”, that is tied, seventeen (17) times in regulation; score tied 25–25 after regulation; tied again 33–33 after the 10-minute overtime; then Cork wins 3–2 on shots from the penalty area. This was the first time ever a Munster finals was decided on penalty shots. And of course, all eleven of our group rooted passionately for the underdog Red Rebels of Cork. 😊 Of Cork’s 33 points before penalties, 30 were single points with shots, both near and far, through the uprights. Cork only got one 3-pointer, scored past the goalie into the net. So, we cheered all 31 times Cork scored, as did most at Gracie’s. My Facebook post (with many photos) mentions our group, learning rules and scoring, as we went through the night, plus a link to a 6-minute segment from CBS’s “60 Minutes” on “Ireland’s National Obsession with Hurling”, with more links to see game highlights, and several “clippings” from the IRISH TIMES and other papers, raving about this epic match. Enjoy! 😊 Read the Article Here
3. Work with CEOs, C-Suite and Senior Executives, exclusively.Robert Adelson is an attorney specialized in the representation of CEOs, C-level and senior executives. He no longer represents companies or employers. Learn about Robert Adelson’s work with CEOs, C-level and senior executives to advise on and improve job offers, employment contracts, stock, RSUs, options, bonuses and other executive compensation matters, plus advice and aid on issues of wrongful termination, severance, exit terms, retention, change of control, other executive issues and more … More Details Here
4. Essential Employment Terms for Female ExecutivesMy article published in 2023 by IVYEXEC career advancement website explores the hurdles faced by women CEOs and senior executives in hiring, change of control, harassment and termination situations, strategies to succeed and keep your career on its upward trajectory. Read the Article Here
5. Getting Executive Severance when you Choose to QuitAre you thinking of quitting your current executive position, but don’t want to leave empty-handed? My article published in February 2024 by IVYEXEC career advancement website, speaks to senior executives who, for reasons beyond their control, want to quit your current position and then strategies how to still seek appropriate executive severance compensation in connection with your separation. Read the Article Here
6. 7/2025 Offer: Good until July 31stThis 4-week value-packed offer, is as a way to get introduced to my law work: : an Executive Issues Law Diagnostic — this offer is good through 7/31/25. Read Details Here
I hope the links and information provided will be useful to you and that there will be an opportunity for me to work with you on legal matters in the near future.
ROBERT A. ADELSON, ESQ.
Executive Employment Attorney
Adelson & Associates, LLC
101 Federal Street, 19th Floor, Boston, MA 02110
(617) 204–5601 Law Firm
(617) 204–5602 Direct
(617) 204–5604 Fax
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.executiveemploymentattorney.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adelson-b8a1557/
Blog: https://robadelson.wordpress.com/
X: @AttorneyAdelson
Robert A. Adelson is the Principal of Adelson & Associates, LLC. For fifteen (15) years, from October 2004 through December 2019, Robert Adelson practiced law and referred legal work to associates of his trusted and experienced colleagues, as a partner of Engel & Schultz, LLP. In December 2019, the lead partners of the firm announced they would go into semi-retirement, go their separate ways, and the office lease would expire in January 2020. In response, Robert Adelson formed Adelson & Associates, LLC in December 2019 and commenced the new firm’s operations on January 1, 2020, with the new firm taking over, on that date and going forward, all current Robert Adelson clients, matters and operations, as well as all referral of legal work to associates of Robert Adelson. Since 1/1/2020, the firm’s offices have been and remain at 101 Federal Street, 19th Floor, across the street from the pre-2020 offices at One Federal Street, 21st Floor, in Boston’s Financial District.

Two weeks ago, on Tuesday June 22, 2021, the website Ivy Exec published under “Career Advice” an article I wrote on “Executive Contract Terms to Negotiate with Your Prospective Employer”. 

This new article is designed for CEOs, C-level and senior executives, who are sometimes neglectful of their own interests and might be tempted to accept the assurance from a prospective employer that the job offer terms are just standard.  But executive contract terms are not standard.

My article discusses critical contract terms that, as a senior executive, you should consider negotiable to assure you are receiving fair financial treatment and to provide important protections to your career path and reputation.  I suggest negotiation strategies for key contract terms including: 

• Signing Bonus – to make you whole for what you are giving up from your job and also compensate you for the risks you are taking going into a new situation where you will have to prove yourself yet again,

• Meaningful Equity – giving you a stake in the company sufficient in size and upside potential to justify the move.

• Tax-favored Equity – with my structuring suggestions to maximize your take-home pay.

• Restrictive covenants – NDAs limited to not bar you from future utilization of  your prior knowledge and connections, Non-competes limited so no significant detour is created to the expected path for your future career growth,

• Severance triggers – to allow you to quit for good reason if the company fails to live up to promises you relied on accepting the offer;  

• Robust severance terms – with not only severance pay but continuation of health benefits, prorated bonus and equity acceleration.

My article then concludes with a discussion of other non-contract factors that go into the decision to accept a job offer such as compatibility with company, fit of skills and personality, and your belief in company prospects.  

But remember, even where you see a good fit going in, things can change: so, having a good contract is an important protection against your champion leaving or other unforeseen developments.

To see my full article, as published in the “Career Advice” section of the Ivy Exec website, go to LINK: https://www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/2021/executive-contract-terms-to-negotiate-with-your-prospective-employer/

Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/articles-section/executive-contract-terms/

IvyExec hosts articles and webinars from experts in the career, leadership, and business spaces who wish to share their knowledge with our audience.  In April 2021, I was invited to write for IvyExec since it seeks original content on the topics of career development, leadership, and business strategy as it applies to senior-level and C-Suite professionals.  IvyExec blog posts and webinars are shared with its community of more than 2 million members on its website, in its newsletter, and on its social media channels.  https://www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/write-for-us/

It is my hope that this article will be of benefit to CEOs, C-level and senior executives who are contemplating a new job offer or employment contract and want to assure the key need financial terms and career protections are in place.  This article suggests to you what is negotiable and that it may be wise to seek these items even when you feel confident the job is a good fit for you.  Because sometimes, your champion may leave or other things might happen – so that, at that point, it might be comforting to you to know you have in writing critical contractual protections.

So, my hope is that this article will offer insights on these important matters. Feel free to tweet or share this article. If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me.

​Six days ago, on April 28, 2020, CEOWorld magazine published an article I wrote on “Has a New Employer Withdrawn Your Executive Job Offer? How “Promissory Estoppel” can give you a legal remedy”.  The magazine advised me that I can use “Featured in the CEOWORLD magazine” and the CEOWORLD “Logo” on my website.

This was my 27th article published in CEOWORLD. Earlier this year, the editor advised that I can add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field.  See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/

This article, my most recent, published April 28th , is designed for CEOs, C-level and senior executives, especially those who receive a job offer, then give notice to their current employer and later see the new offer rescinded or withdrawn due to the economic downturn or turmoil arising from the COVID-19 /coronavirus pandemic or other changes at the new employer.   With your old job now lost, this article discusses use of the legal doctrine of promissory estoppel as a remedy for the now out-of-work executive.
​
The article also indicates potential use of this promissory estoppel remedy in other cases where an employer does not honor other oral promises to the executive, on which he or she relied, including in these circumstances:

• Employer promised full executive employment contract and equity documents and termination occurs before those documents are delivered and signed,

• Executive’s acceptance of a job offer on the condition that he or she can attend a life cycle event and termination after you attend that event,

• Executive gives up a lucrative position to join the new company on the promise of important responsibilities and leadership, with termination before that promise is ever kept,

• Executives gives up other job offers to leave the employer on promise of new executive employment terms that are never fulfilled.

​The article concludes on a cautionary note that while some major verdicts and settlements have been obtained by C-level executives using promissory estoppel against employers who failed to honor their promises, the doctrine is not universally upheld in the courts of all states. So, it is best to get your executive contract clear and in writing, but when you have not done that, consult with an experienced executive employment attorney and promissory estoppel may still give you a remedy.

To see my full CEOWorld magazine. article, go to LINK:
https://ceoworld.biz/2020/04/28/has-a-new-employer-withdrawn-your-executive-job-offer-how-promissory-estoppel-might-give-you-a-legal-remedy/
Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/has-a-new-employer-withdrawn-your-executive-job-offer-how-promissory-estoppel-might-give-you-a-legal-remedy/

With more than 12.4+ million-page views, CEOWORLD magazine is the world’s leading business magazine written strictly for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, senior management executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals worldwide.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceomagazine/

The editor has also advised that I can add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field.  See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/

It is my hope that this article will be helpful to suggest a potential remedy to CEOs, COOs, CMOs, other C-Level and senior executives who have been enticed to take a new executive position or to give up other opportunities, and, after acting in reliance on the promises made by the employer, find that the executive job offer is rescinded or withdrawn or the employer in some other way breaks an important promise made to you, on which you relied.   If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me at [email protected].

This was my 26th article published in CEOWORLD. Earlier this year, the editor advised that I can add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field. The magazine has also created a library of my articles on its website, where you can click on and access any of my more than 20 articles with CEOWORLD, published in recent years beginning in 2016.  See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/

​This article, my most recent, published March 31st, is designed for CEOs, C-level and senior executives, especially those who receive an executive job offer or employment contract for their first CEO or C-level position.  The article provides answers and explanations on these important questions:

• What is an executive employment agreement?
• Why is this agreement important to the company?
• Why is this agreement important to you?
• What are the key terms and conditions that you should focus on?
• How do you achieve success in negotiating these executive contract terms?

The article also includes a brief discussion of key terms to seek in a CEO or C-suite employment agreement including terms on the following:

• Position, duties and authority,
• Executive compensation and bonus structure,
• Tax-favored executive equity and/or LTIs,
• Severance terms and triggers,
• Noncompete and other restrictive covenants.

To see my full CEOWorld magazine. article, go to LINK:
https://ceoworld.biz/2020/03/31/executive-employment-agreement-an-overview-for-the-newly-minted-ceo-or-c-suite-executive/
Or on my website at https://www.executiveemploymentattorney.com/executive-employment-agreement/

​With more than 12.4+ million-page views, CEOWORLD magazine is the world’s leading business magazine written strictly for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, senior management executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals worldwide.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceomagazine/
The editor has also advised that I can add CEOWORLD magazine in my LinkedIn profile’s “Experience Section” as an “Opinion Columnist.” and authority in the field.  See https://ceoworld.biz/author/robert-adelson/

It is my hope that this article will be helpful to newly-minted CEOs, COOs, CMOs, other C-Level and senior executives to understand the importance of their first executive employment agreement and to aid them in the negotiation for appropriate terms commensurate with the position each is offered. If you or any colleague of yours has a need in this area, please do reach out to me at [email protected].

Author: Robert AdelsonRobert Adelson has been a corporate and tax attorney since 1977. He began as an associate at nationally prominent New York City “mega” law firms, first at the Wall Street firm Dewey Ballantine Bushby Palmer & Wood and later at the Park Avenue firm Weil Gotshal & Manges. In 1985, Adelson returned home, where he has since established himself as a respected Boston business attorney. He has attained partner at several small and midsize Boston law firms, most recently at Lawson & Weitzen LLP and then Zimble Brettler LLP, where he was a partner from 1994 to 2004 before becoming a partner at Engel & Schultz LLP from 2004 to 2019. With the breakup of that firm over semi-retirement of senior partners, Robert Adelson formed the firm Adelson & Associates, LLC, where he is the principal, that commenced operations 1/1/2020.