Our Employee Benefits & ERISA attorneys provide advice to our clients concerning their pension, profit sharing, 401(k) plans and other employee benefit plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as well as plans not subject to ERISA. Stradley Ronon’s Employee Benefits & ERISA practice encompasses a full range of services in the design, qualification (with IRS) and implementation of pension, profit sharing, and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), as well as services in the area of nonqualified deferred compensation plans and other executive compensation arrangements.

Our lawyers devote substantial time to advising our banking and investment company clients concerning the retirement plans they sponsor. We also deal with all types of prototype retirement plans, including individual retirement accounts (IRAs), tax-sheltered annuities and custodial accounts and simplified employee pensions (SEPs).

Our Employee Benefits & ERISA attorneys advise clients regarding the application of the prohibited transaction and fiduciary responsibility rules of ERISA as they apply to transactions involving the assets of employee benefit plans. Where necessary, we obtain exemptions and opinion letters from the Department of Labor regarding these transactions. We provide advice in this area to investment advisory and investment management firms, as well as to other clients who are contemplating transactions involving employee benefit plan assets.

Our attorneys also advise our corporate clients on the impact of employee benefit plans in mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions. Moreover, the Employee Benefits & ERISA Practice Group has worked extensively in the area of flexible compensation programs, such as 401(k) cash or deferred arrangements and cafeteria plans, and has assisted many of our clients in implementing such programs.

Our attorneys have worked extensively with the employee benefits issues confronting tax-exempt organizations like churches, universities, public schools, credit unions and hospitals. We have assisted many of our tax-exempt clients with the highly complex problems associated with tax-sheltered annuity programs and preventing liability in connection with the operation of such programs. We have also represented several church-related clients to help them attain “church plan” status for their employee benefit plans so that the plans will be exempt from the requirements of ERISA.