Our Employee Benefits Practice Area works as a team with the firm's business law attorneys on corporate and other transactions. Working as a team is an important way to assist our clients: Any time a business is sold, purchased, merged or there is some other kind of organizational change, employee benefits will be an issue.
In many transactions, the basic questions will include which employer will be responsible for maintaining the employee benefit plans, what are the liabilities and how can our client be protected? Although the questions are simple, the process of reaching the answers is not. And the answers are critical for our clients.
Our Employee Benefits Practice Area is a particularly valuable resource because we have so many experienced attorneys. We have one of the largest employee benefit departments in the country and our attorneys have, on average, 20 years of experience. We have the knowledge to assist and protect our clients in a transaction:
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We know the complex legal requirements which apply to health plans, 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans, nonqualified plans and other employee benefits
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We understand that the structure of a transaction can change how those rules will apply in a particular situation.
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We know what needs to be included in transaction documents to protect clients
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We know how plans should be administered and what will need to be done when mistakes have occurred
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We know the questions to ask to assess current liability and potential future liability
When a transaction has occurred, we continue to work with employee benefit issues relating to the transaction. This work may involve correcting plan administration problems, merging plans, terminating plans and establishing new benefit programs. Our overall objective is to use our knowledge and experience to benefit our clients.