The Stock Options Book, Sixth Edition

In recent years, the level of legal, accounting, and regulatory complexity associated with employee stock options has only grown. This book, written by attorney Alisa Baker, a leading equity compensation expert, presents a straightforward, comprehensive overview of both the big-picture issues and the technical details related to designing and implementing stock option plans. The book also looks at "hot" issues and provides illustrative exhibits, a glossary, a bibliography, and primary source materials, plus a seminal article by Corey Rosen on plan design.

Among many changes noted throughout the text, the sixth edition includes new material on the impact of new IRS cost-sharing regulations on ISOs, the status of FASB/IASB stock-based compensation rules, the status of post-Sarbanes-Oxley securities law regulations, a summary of the proposed ISO regulations, a discussion of down-market ESPP scenarios, recent SRO shareholder approval rules, restricted stock units and the Microsoft plan, and standards for independent compensation committees. Additionally, the book now features an index.

Alisa Baker, an attorney with The Law Offices of Alisa J. Baker, is a nationally recognized equity compensation expert who specializes in counseling companies and executives on the full range of compensation-related matters. Her extensive list of published work includes articles in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Journal of Taxation. Alisa’s speaking engagements include numerous appearances before industry groups, including the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, the National Center for Employee Ownership, the E*Trade Business Solutions Group, and the Society for Human Resources Management. She is a founding member of the CEPI Board of Advisors and currently serves on the MyStockOptions Board of Advisors, the NCEO Stock Option Advisory Board, and the Review Board for the National Board of Certified Option Advisors. She is a member of the editorial board of the NCEO’s Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance.

Alisa received her B.A. and M.A. in English with honors, and her M.S. in higher education with distinction from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She earned her J.D. with honors from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where she was an associate editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. She has been a teaching fellow at Stanford Law School and an adjunct lecturer in executive compensation at Golden Gate University.

Before founding her own law firm in 2003, Alisa was a partner with GCA Law Partners LLP, and before that she practiced with the employee benefits group at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and the tax group at Fenwick & West. During 2000–2001, she served as executive vice president/general counsel of Snapfish.com Corporation.