Ray Fernando is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Chicago office.
Ray’s practice concentrates on employee compensation and benefits. He has extensive experience advising corporate clients concerning the design, administration, and restructuring of their tax-qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, incentive compensation, equity compensation, and deferred compensation programs, severance programs, and health and welfare plans. Ray has successfully represented corporate clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Immediately prior to joining McDermott, Ray served as senior counsel at Navistar International Corporation, where he handled all legal aspects of the company-sponsored employee and director compensation and benefit programs. His previous experience also includes serving as in-house counsel with the world’s largest provider of multi-service HR business process outsourcing, as a senior associate with another prominent national law firm, and as a staff attorney with the Internal Revenue Service, National Office, Office of Chief Counsel – Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division (formerly known as EBEO). In his position with the Internal Revenue Service, Ray routinely assisted with the issuance of interpretative guidance, including private letter rulings, revenue rulings, and technical advice memoranda.
Beyond representing corporate clients, Ray is also proud and privileged to have successfully represented pro bono clients in a variety of matters, including employee benefit claims.
While in law school, Ray was on the editorial board of the John Marshall Law Review. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the United States Tax Court.
Education
- John Marshall Law School, J.D. (cum laude), 1996
- Marquette University, B.S. (with honors), 1992
