ERISA / Employee Benefits

The Firm regularly advises corporate, law firm, and benefits consultant clients with respect to ERISA fiduciary requirements in connection with the investment and management of plan assets. The Firm also consults with clients on plan termination issues, including terminations in connection with corporate/real estate transactions. Additional areas include IRS tax qualification, plan design/funding, and related compliance issues. The Firm is equipped to represent its clients before the U.S. Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Shari A. Wynne, the Managing Partner of the Firm, has rendered pension benefit and ERISA services to many of the largest corporations in the country. Ms. Wynne was previously associated with the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson where she practiced employee benefits law with a focus on fiduciary issues, and other Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ("PBGC") and Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") issues such as funding, diversification, and plan termination in connection with corporate/real estate transactions. Most recently, Ms. Wynne was associated with McDermott, Will & Emery, where her employee benefit practice expanded to include IRS tax qualification, plan design and compliance issues. Ms. Wynne previously served as a litigator for the Plan Benefits Security Division of the U.S. Department of Labor where she litigated on behalf of the Secretary of Labor, breach of Title I of ERISA, fiduciary duty matters in connection with the investment and/or administration of pension plan assets.

Ms. Wynne was honored with the Secretary's Exceptional Achievement Award as the co-counsel in one of the leading cases in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals with respect to the fiduciary status and obligations of plan fiduciaries; see, Reich v. Lancaster, 843 F. Supp. 194 (N.D. Tex. 1993), aff'd, 55 F.3d 1034 (5th Cir. 1995).