Find Lawyers in Washington, District of Columbia for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law - Washington, District of Columbia
About this Practice Area
An expert on ERISA’s fiduciary rules and government regulation of health insurance, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Jon Breyfogle counsels numerous financial services firms, health insurers, and their D.C.-based trade associations on retirement and health matters. His practice includes advice on regulatory and legislative strategies, compliance, and defense of federal and state investigations. Jon has testified before Congress and at Department of Labor hearings on both retirem...
Steve Day is a Partner in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group; he advises public, private, governmental and non-profit clients on tax, securities, ERISA and state law issues related to designing and operating executive compensation arrangements and employee benefit plans. Steve regularly advises clients on: General design and compliance issues for qualified retirement plans, non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements and health plans Fiduciary responsibilitie...
Elizabeth Thomas Dold’s practice focuses on the Internal Revenue Code and related compensation matters, including employment taxes and other reporting and withholding requirements. She covers all types of employee benefits, including qualified plans, IRAs, governmental plans, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and health and welfare plans. She assists clients in all tax-related aspects of employee benefits including Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings, compliance audits, desig...
Elizabeth Drake is a principal in the firm’s Plan Sponsor group. Her practice covers Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and tax requirements applicable to retirement plans and non-qualified arrangements, health and welfare benefits and fringe benefit programs. In recent years, Elizabeth’s practice has focused on counseling and advocacy work on behalf of large plan sponsors on complex and sensitive matters primarily involving their defined benefit pension...
Douglas W. Ell enjoys solving difficult problems relating to employee benefits. His creative redesign of one benefit program saved a client over $20 million each year and was recently approved by the IRS. He drafted the first 401(k) plan in professional sports. Mr. Ell has represented a number of nationally recognized corporations, unions and multiemployer plans. He has litigated nationally with great success and persuaded Congress to make important changes in employee benefits laws. He has s...
Jennifer Eller is co-chair of Groom’s Retirement Services Practice Group and Fiduciary Practice. She’s been with the firm since 1998, beginning as a law clerk, and has been a practicing attorney at Groom since 2000. As a practice group chair, Jenny ensures that the strategic direction and initiatives of the group position Groom to serve the needs of its financial, corporate, and public plan clients. In her practice, she operates from a similar perspective. She advises financial in...
Jodi H. Epstein is a partner in Ivins, Phillips & Barker's Employee Benefits practice. She focuses on qualified plans, with particular expertise in integrations after acquisitions, setting up benefit platforms, and advising qualified plan committees regarding their fiduciary duties. Jodi’s practice includes day-to-day compliance issues, such as assisting with implementation of new legislation and regulations, filing determination letter applications for qualified plans, trouble-shoo...
David Fuller focuses his practice on matters involving employee fringe benefits, independent contractor/employee classification, payroll taxes, information reporting, corporate aircraft, supplemental unemployment compensation benefits (SUB Pay), Section 139 qualified disaster relief payments and the contingent workforce (outsourcing, PEOs, and employee leasing). His unique practice includes tax litigation on a wide range of significant FICA and tax refund matters. In the area of SUB Pay plans...
David Godofsky is a partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group of Alston & Bird. He is chair of the Retirement and Benefits Committee of the firm, and during his tenure as Leader of the Employee Benefits Group (including ERISA Litigation) the firm was named “Law Firm of the Year” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® for ERISA Litigation in 2016 and Employee Benefits (ERISA) in 2015 and 2017. David is part of the firm's team of litigators which repres...
Israel (Izzy) Goldowitz has more than 35 years of experience in employee benefits, most notably with mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, and bankruptcy as they affect pension plans. As the Chief Counsel for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Izzy led the legal teams that helped save the pensions of such companies as Chrysler and American Airlines. Working closely with financial analysts, actuaries and outside advisors, he also led the legal teams that negotiated pension pro...
Lars Golumbic serves as the co-chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice. His ERISA litigation practice includes the defense of “excessive fee” and ESOP class actions brought against plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and service providers. Lars also represents health plan sponsors and health insurers in actions brought under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Additionally, Lars defends plan trustees, fiduciaries, companies and their board members, and service provide...
Dan Hogans advises clients on a wide range of employee benefits and executive compensation matters, including the implementation and operation of executive deferred compensation and supplemental retirement plans, equity compensation plans and arrangements, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), ERISA related issues and qualified retirement plans and programs. Dan has comprehensive experience advising clients on compensation-related income and employment tax issues, including under IRC Sectio...
David Kaleda’s broad range of experience includes handling fiduciary matters impacting plan sponsors, investment and other fiduciary committees, investment managers/advisors, recordkeepers, broker-dealers, banks, and other financial services firms. He advises clients on the avoidance and resolution of prohibited transaction issues, the structuring of alternative investment funds (including plan asset funds, real estate operating companies, and venture capital operating companies), and d...
Christine Keller advises a wide range of clients on all aspects of health and welfare plan design, administration, and funding including compliance with federal tax, ERISA, and other federal and state law requirements, plan and VEBA trust document drafting, participant disclosure, change in election issues, wellness program compliance, and claims and appeals. Her clients include employers, insurers, and service providers of all sizes. She draws on her prior IRS experience to provide practical...
David Levine is co-chair of the firm’s employer-focused practice. He advises plan sponsors, advisors, and other service providers on a wide range of employee benefits matters, from retirement and executive compensation to health and welfare plan matters. David advises on the design and redesign of complex retirement, executive, and health and welfare plans; ongoing, day-to-day counseling of plan sponsors; in-depth compliance reviews of corporate and governmental benefit programs; altern...
Louis Mazawey brings decades of experience as an authority on the tax aspects of employee benefits in all forms to his work at Groom. As counsel to major insurance companies and a variety of plan sponsors—including corporate employers, trade associations, and public retirement systems—Lou has worked closely with qualified plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, IRAs, employee stock ownership plans, executive compensation, retiree medical benefits, plan terminations, mergers and spinoffs, the...
Danny Miller is an attorney in Conner & Winters Employee Benefits (ERISA) Practice Group which has earned a national “First Tier” practice area ranking in the 2018 edition of the U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list. He has been practicing in the employee benefits area since 1974, coinciding with the advent of ERISA. For most of that time, Mr. Miller has advised numerous church denominational benefit plans and programs, large independent church...
Kevin P. O’Brien is a partner in the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice. His practice has concentrated in employee compensation and benefits for over 30 years. Kevin is widely known as a leader in a wide variety of subjects, including innovative defined benefit plan design, flexible benefits, ERISA fiduciary matters and executive compensation. Before joining the firm, Kevin worked in the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration at the Labor Department ...
Stephen Pavlick focuses his practice on employee benefits matters for multinational corporations. He concentrates on qualified plans, related fiduciary and other Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) issues, deferred compensation and equity arrangements, and funding strategies for post-retirement welfare benefits. He has worked extensively with cash balance plans. Read full biography: https://www.mwe.com/people/pavlick-stephen/
Seth Perretta advises clients on a wide range of federal tax and ERISA matters regarding employee benefits and insurance. His practice encompasses qualified retirement plans, executive compensation, federal income and employment taxes, health and welfare arrangements, and insurance. Seth represents employers, private equity and investment firms, insurance companies, professional employer organizations (“PEOs”), trade associations, and public policy organizations on all aspects of ...
David Powell’s expertise covers tax and ERISA issues relating to all types of employee pension and welfare benefit plans. He specializes in qualified plans of public companies including 401(k), profit sharing, pension and cash balance plans, and international benefits issues. David is a leading expert on the subject of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) for public companies, nonqualified deferred compensation plans (including supplemental executive retirement plans and other types o...
David is the Managing Partner of Winston’s D.C. Office. He advises clients on the management of a variety of benefit plans, and regularly counsels on executive compensation arrangements. Clients describe him as “very knowledgeable, responsive, and practical” and “recommend David to any client seeking an employee benefits counsel” (Chambers USA). Please read more here: https://www.winston.com/en/who-we-are/professionals/rogers-david-e.html
Mr. Savage joined Ivins, Phillips & Barker's in 1963. Since 1968, before the development and enactment of ERISA, Mr. Savage’s practice has focused primarily on the benefits field for many years. He has been the senior partner in the firm’s Executive Compensation and Benefits practice. Mr. Savage has had extensive experience in advising clients on plan design and operational matters and in handling a comprehensive spectrum of legislative, regulatory, and compliance and controve...
Stephen Saxon works on a wide variety of administrative, litigative, and legislative matters involving tax-exempt organizations and ERISA. He specializes in matters relating to Title I of ERISA, with respect to which he has obtained scores of advisory opinions and exemptions. Stephen also represents tax-exempt clients in IRS audits and appeals procedures, as well as in restructuring non-profit organizations to address unrelated business income tax and other issues. In addition, he has worked ...
Ian represents companies, executives, and fiduciaries in connection with Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation, employee benefits and executive compensation matters, class actions, and other commercial disputes. Trained as a trial lawyer, Ian has focused almost exclusively on employee benefits related litigation for the past 15 years. What do you focus on? I focus my practice on ERISA litigation. With broad experience in this area, I help defend plans, fiduciaries, and co...
Christy Tinnes is involved in all aspects of health and welfare plans, including the Affordable Care Act, ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She represents large employers designing health plans as well as insurers designing new products. She frequently advises both employers and service providers on the legal requirements for wellness programs, including HIPAA, ADA, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. She also has significant experience working...
Brigen Winters counsels employers, plan administrators, financial institutions, insurers, trade associations, and coalitions on retirement, health and welfare, tax, executive compensation, regulatory, and legislative matters. Brigen helps clients achieve compliance and obtain favorable outcomes through amendments from Congress and regulatory guidance from the IRS and Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services. He counsels clients on all aspects of tax-qualified and individu...
Lisa Campbell is co-chair of the firm’s Health Services Practice. She advises clients on all aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the insurance market reforms, qualified health plan standards, exchange rules, consumer assistance programs for the federal marketplace, and ACA section 1557 nondiscrimination rules. Lisa also works with clients on the Federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), state insurance law, and Medicare and Medicaid. She represents ...
Melissa Harclerode is a member of Kirkland & Ellis‘ Employment and Labor Practice Group and is based in the Firm's Washington, D.C., office. Melissa has comprehensive experience advising clients on labor and employment matters in the context of complex national and international corporate transactions, including conducting acquisition-related due diligence and risk assessment and assisting clients with post-acquisition and restructuring-related issues. Melissa also counsels employer...
As a CPA at a Big Four Accounting Firm, Charlotte advised law firms, financial services firms, and individuals on complex matters at both the state and federal level. She has extensive experience with filings and IRS disputes. Prior to joining IPB, Charlotte practiced in the Financial Services group in the Washington, DC office of an AmLaw 100 Firm. Charlotte graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as the Submissions Editor of the Georgetown Journal of ...
Katie Kohn is in Groom Law Group’s Litigation practice group. Katie specializes in ERISA litigation relating to qualified and nonqualified retirement and health plans, with significant experience in matters involving the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”), the federal agency that insures private single employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. Katie represents clients in PBGC investigations, termination litigation, and distress and standard termina...
Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law Definition
Single-employer, multi-employer, and collectively bargained pension plans provide benefits to plan participants and beneficiaries through various arrangements, including pension, profit sharing, annuity, 401(k), and employee stock ownership plans, as well as through various group life insurance, medical, hospitalization, dental, severance, and other health and welfare benefit plans.
Employee benefits law encompasses a wide spectrum of matters, including planning, drafting, and updating qualified and nonqualified retirement plan documents, and assisting clients with ongoing compliance matters relating to new statutes and regulations. It also requires working with government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, in connection with voluntary corrections, closing agreements, audits, and investigations.
Employee benefits law practitioners are called upon to identify special issues and potential problems in corporate and partnership reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, and securities transactions. Lawyers work closely with public and private investment funds to counsel on fiduciary duties, prohibited transactions, and various tax issues related to plan asset investments.
Executive compensation matters are an important component of employee benefits law and involve advising clients on the tax and accounting concerns surrounding equity-based compensation, bonus arrangements, supplemental retirement and deferred compensation plans, executive employment and severance arrangements, and securities law compliance.
Employee benefits lawyers assist in ERISA litigation disputes to prosecute and defend a wide variety of fiduciary duty claims on behalf of employee benefit plans, plan trustees and plan service providers, including claims arising from significant plan investment losses, claims challenging plan amendments or terminations, and claims challenging plan restrictions on particular types of coverage.
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.
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