Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
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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...
Susan Daley is a partner with Perkins Coie and has more than 20 years of experience in the areas of executive compensation, securities and employee benefits. She is currently President of the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, Chair of the Federal Securities Law Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, and a member of the BNA Pension & Benefits Advisory Board. She is a former Chair of the Ill...
Tim Brechtel is a partner in the Tax Practice Group. He counsels employers on tax and ERISA compliance issues relating to employee retirement, health, welfare, compensation, and other plans. Tim advises clients ranging from sole proprietorships to large, multinational corporations on establishing, administering, merging, and terminating qualified defined-contribution and defined-benefit retirement plans — such as 401(k) plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) — and nonqua...
Russell A. Gaudreau, Jr. is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law. Russell A., who practices law in Boston, Massachusetts, has been recognized since 1987. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Russell A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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...
Glenn Kantor is a founding partner of Kantor & Kantor LLP. As a young attorney, Glenn saw the injustice of wrongful insurance denials and created a law firm to represent individuals seeking to obtain their rightful benefits. Glenn is committed to ensure that clients receive the benefits they are entitled to under their insurance policies or group health plans. In the past 20 years, Glenn has represented thousands of individuals suffering a wide range of medical conditions including: Multi...
Steve Kisling likes to make things simple for his clients, which is fortunate considering the complexity of his employee benefits and tax practice. While it is a generalization, but no great secret, that many lawyers run a little hot-blooded, Steve is calm, patient and always composed. He knows that business owners, benefits professionals and human resources personnel have multiple balls in the air at any given time, and he enjoys relieving some of the strain and worry that comes with the adm...
Kelly Kuglitsch assists employers, plan administrators, plan fiduciaries, plan service providers, consultants, advisors, and other attorneys with a wide variety of employee benefits, ERISA, executive compensation and payroll matters. As a member of the Employment Law Practice Group, she draws upon her technical knowledge to provide counsel on benefit plan design, administration, termination, and compliance in accordance with the complex requirements of IRS and Department of Labor rules. She h...
Steven J. Friedman advises employers on a variety of aspects of employee benefits law, including: The structuring and implementation of qualified and non-qualified retirement plans Welfare and fringe benefits programs Early retirement programs Severance plans He also has extensive experience counseling employers on Employee Retirement Income Security Act and tax compliance issues related to employee benefits plans, dealing with the governmental agencies that regulate such plans and construing...
Scott is a lifelong Clevelander who loves this city and treasures his ability to represent people across the Greater Cleveland Area. His mother’s parents were Holocaust survivors and his parents instilled in him the value and need to fight for the little guy. He does this every day in his work. Scott enjoys providing people with some measure of comfort during difficult times and works to be a reliable, trustworthy voice and advocate for his clients. When he’s not in the office, Sc...
Matt Mellin has concentrated on employee benefit law throughout his career. He has practiced in both the law firm environment and as a staff attorney for one of the world's largest employee benefits consulting firms. Matt's experience covers the full range of employee benefit plans, including pension and profit sharing plans, multiemployer benefit plans, ESOPs and stock purchase plans, 401(k) and tax sheltered annuity arrangements. He advises employers on compliance with Health Care Reform (t...
Peter L. Peterson is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, Nonprofit / Charities Law, Tax Law and Trusts and Estates. Peter L., who practices law in Salina, Kansas, has been recognized since 1983. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Peter L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Colleen Hart is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law. Colleen, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2014. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Colleen is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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.