Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
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J.S. "Chris" Christie practices in Dentons Sirote’s Litigation group, based in Birmingham, Alabama. He has handled False Claims Act, class action, and bet-the-company cases, cases involving stock valuations, financial expert witnesses, and statistical expert witnesses, and appeals to the Supreme Court of Alabama and to the federal Circuit Courts of Appeals. He frequently speaks and publishes on employee benefits, legal ethics, and trial techniques. In employee benefits litigation, Chris...
Joy M. Napier-Joyce is a Partner in the Baltimore office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and leader of the firm’s Employee Benefits Practice Group. Ms. Napier-Joyce counsels clients in a broad range of benefit matters, including general compliance and administration of qualified retirement plans under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She also assists clients with welfare plan issues involving cafeteria plans, health plans, flexible spending accounts, group insurance products, COBRA and HIPAA....
David advises clients, including small business owners and professionals, in a broad range of business and tax areas including corporate and business mergers and acquisitions, tax and employee benefits counsel and estate succession planning. This includes the preparation of wills, trusts and related documents. He also assists owners, professionals and executives in the formation and structure of their businesses including contract and compliance matters, and formation of corporations, limited...
Rachel Faye Smith is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law. Rachel Faye, who practices law in Boston, Massachusetts, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Rachel Faye is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
For a number of clients, Nicole serves as an extension of their benefits and rewards department, designing compliant total rewards programs that facilitate her clients’ business objectives. For publicly traded and private companies, predominately in the financial services, healthcare and restaurant sectors, as well as tax-exempt entities, Nicole regularly advises on retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, pension plans and government correction programs for fixing plan operational err...
Joseph B. Hurst, Jr. is the head of the firm's Employee Benefits Practice Group. His focus is on the design, implementation and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans (including defined benefit pension plans, profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans and ESOPs), nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and welfare benefit plans for financial institutions, regular business organizations, professional corporations and governmental and non-profit organizations.He assists plan sponsors and fi...
Bob Brant has an uncanny ability to do five things at once, and all of them proficiently. He was multitasking before the term even existed. He may be entering a timesheet while he dissects a tax problem and actively participates in a meeting. Just when you think there is no possible way he could be listening and doing so much simultaneously, out will pop a sentence that gets right to the heart of the matter. Those who have not been initiated will often sit back in stunned silence, even awe. B...
Tom Clark serves as the firm's Chief Operating Officer and leads the firm’s St. Louis office. His expertise encompasses all aspects of employee benefits programs, including the design, implementation and compliance of retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and executive and incentive compensation arrangements. He also has a robust practice assisting covered service providers in meeting their ERISA compliance needs. Mr. Clark’s vast litigation experience complements the firm&r...
Danny Johnson represents large and mid-size businesses and professional service firms regarding the implementation and administration of their employee benefit plans and compensation arrangements. Danny has more than 35 years of experience with a wide range of employee benefit and executive employment matters, including public company clients in connection with their executive compensation programs and dealing with golden parachute severance issues that arise in merger, acquisition, divestitu...
Ms. Smithey devotes her practice to all aspects of employee benefits law. She represents clients with respect to qualified retirement plans and health and welfare plans, assisting them with a variety of plan design, compliance, and administration issues for all types of pension, health and welfare benefit plans.Ms. Smithey advises her clients as to ERISA, MPPAA, HIPAA, COBRA, PPACA, the Internal Revenue Code, as well as other federal and state laws applicable to employee benefit plans and pla...
Taft-Hartley Trust attorney with 15 years of expertise. Recognized community leader with deep local roots. Provides creative solutions and problem-solving for better retirement, health care, training and apprenticeships. Bryce Loveland represents numerous pension, health, training and vacation savings plans and trusts in ERISA, HIPAA and Affordable Care Act compliance and, when necessary, in litigation. He is experienced in collecting unpaid employee benefit contributions, withdrawal liabilit...
Linda Keng is a partner in the Tax Practice Group. She focuses her practice on ERISA and employee benefits, executive and deferred compensation, trusts and estate planning, taxation, and business transactions. Linda represents for-profit and tax-exempt employers in all aspects of executive compensation and employee benefits, including qualified retirement plans, non-qualified executive compensation and equity plans, welfare plans, regulatory issues and disputes, and other employee benefit-rel...
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.