PHILADELPHIA – Stradley Ronon announced today that Barry L. Klein, nationally recognized employee benefits and executive compensation attorney, has joined the firm’s Philadelphia office as partner from Gordon & Rees. Klein was chair of his prior firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice.
A member of Stradley Ronon’s
tax practice group, Klein’s career has provided him with a unique perspective on employee benefits and the employee benefits industry. He began his career at the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. and he was in-house employee benefits counsel at the Prudential Insurance Company of America and at The Vanguard Group, Inc. Klein advised these companies with respect to the full range of services and products that they provide to employee benefit plans and was instrumental in the design and marketing of new products.
For more than 30 years, beginning with the Tax Reform Act of 1986 through the current discussions about national healthcare policy, Klein has advised employers on the potential opportunities and the limitations of their employee benefits and compensation arrangements. He has significant practical experience with every aspect of the design, maintenance and compliance of employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements.
Klein advises employers, including sole proprietors, partnerships, multinational companies, major hospital centers and universities with respect to the benefits and compensation they offer employees. He has counseled numerous employers with respect to employee benefits and executive compensation aspects of mergers and acquisitions, change in control and golden parachute analysis, withdrawal and mass withdrawal liability and consolidation and spin-off of plans. He advises 401(k) and 403(b) plan investment committees.
Klein also advises financial services clients with respect to their obligations under ERISA. He counsels these clients on the fiduciary responsibility that arises when they manage ERISA plan assets and offer products for plans, as well as opportunities for avoiding ERISA coverage. Klein has helped clients set up funds that comply with ERISA’s venture capital operating company and real estate operating company exemptions, and has helped clients set up hedge funds that are subject to or exempt from ERISA.
"Barry is a highly-regarded practitioner in his field and will bolster our existing capabilities, joining Jim Podheiser and George Gerstein in Stradley’s comprehensive employee benefits and executive compensation practice," said Todd C. Vanett, Stradley Ronon’s tax chair.
"I am thrilled to join Stradley Ronon and contribute to the firm's success," said Klein. "I admire Stradley's entrepreneurial spirit and common-sense approach to client service, and I see great opportunities to grow the firm's employee benefits and executive compensation capabilities."
Klein graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law. He earned his B.A. from University of Pennsylvania.
About Stradley Ronon
Counseling clients since 1926, Stradley Ronon has helped private and public companies – from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations – achieve their goals by providing pragmatic, value-driven legal counsel. With offices in eight strategic locations, our responsive team of more than 200 attorneys seamlessly addresses the full spectrum of our clients’ needs, ranging from sophisticated corporate transactions to complex commercial litigation.