Practice Areas & Industries: Lane Powell PC

• Retirement plans, including pension, profit sharing, 401(k), 403(b), 457, employee stock ownership plans ("ESOPs");
• Health and welfare plans, including medical, dental, vision, life, accident and disability plans as well as cafeteria/125 plan funding arrangements;
• Equity-based plans, such as stock option plans, employee stock purchase plans and other equity-based compensation programs;
• Executive compensation plans, including nonqualified deferred compensation, supplemental executive retirement plans, and the integration of the various equity-based programs into these plans; and
• Severance plans, including plans for key executive groups, reductions-in-force and discretionary severance plans.

The standard services for employee benefits clients of Lane Powell demonstrate the broad scope of matters that we cover. They include the following general services:

• Provide ongoing legal advice based on an understanding of federal and state laws that may impact benefit plans and their administration;
• Respond to questions relating to our clients' plans and prepare legal analyses and opinions outlining required actions or options available;
• Upon a client's request, attend meetings of plan committees or fiduciaries, or the plan sponsor's board of directors, present opinions and analyses and respond to questions from attendees. We also have been called upon to assist in drafting minutes for meetings attended to ensure that plan and corporate matters are properly considered and documented;
• Advise clients as to changes in the laws impacting either plan design or administration and assist their team in developing an appropriate course of action responding to such changes;
• Upon request, represent plans, fiduciaries and plan sponsors in benefits-related litigation arising out of benefits claims, plan administration, fiduciary matters and design decisions; and
• Maintain files for fiduciary matters separately from files for corporate benefit matters, including the preparation of separate bills and physical segregation of files for correspondence, notes and documents.

To that end, we have been called upon to assist clients more specifically in the following areas:

• Plan and Trust Structure, Governance and Documents
• Compliance With Federal Benefits Law
• Compliance With State Law
• Investment
• Executive Benefits
• Service Provider Contracts
• Benefit Eligibility and Review of Denied Claims
• Litigation by or Against Trust