Fundamentals of Employee Benefits Law
What You Will Learn
This annual course of study, comprising 16 hours of instruction, aims to familiarize nonspecialists, and those who would be specialists, with the basic laws and regulations governing employee pension and welfare benefit plans. The course provides the means for lawyers, accountants, actuaries, and consultants to gain a basic knowledge of the rules that apply to both qualified and nonqualified plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The course fully discusses and incorporates changes resulting from the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), as well as any subsequent legislation affecting plans.
A small faculty of experienced practitioners takes the complex web that is ERISA and makes it accessible to registrants inexperienced in the area. In addition to a comprehensive review of the basic rules of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code, faculty members address the effects of other areas of the law, such as family and bankruptcy law, on plans.
Time is reserved throughout the program to address registrants’ questions.
Planning Chairs
Pamela D. Perdue, Summers, Compton, Wells & Hamburg, P.C., St. Louis
Faculty
Brian W. Berglund, Bryan Cave LLP, St. Louis
Michael A. Laing, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP, Cincinnati
John A. Nixon, Blank Rome LLP, Philadelphia
Roberta Casper Watson, Trenam, Kemker, Scharf, Barkin, Frye, O’Neill & Mullis, P.A., Tampa
Program Schedule
Thursday, March 2, 2006
- 7:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
- 8:30 a.m. Introduction: Overview of Legislative and Regulatory Schemes (including what is an ERISA plan) – Ms. Perdue
- 9:00 a.m. Types of Qualified Retirement Plans (determining what type of plan is right for a client) – Ms. Perdue
- 10:00 a.m. Networking Break
- 10:15 a.m. Standards of Eligibility, Participation, and Coverage – Mr. Laing
- 11:15 a.m. Questions and Answers
- 11:45 a.m. Lunch Break
- 1:15 p.m. Introduction to the Fiduciary Responsibility Rules of ERISA – Mr. Nixon
- 2:15 p.m. Vesting – Mr. Nixon
- 2:45 p.m. Networking Break
- 3:00 p.m. Special Rules for Top-Heavy Plans and Keoghs – Ms. Perdue
- 3:30 p.m. Nondiscrimination and Permitted Disparity – Mr. Berglund
- 4:30 p.m. Questions and Answers
- 5:00 p.m. Adjournment for the Day
Friday, March 3, 2006
- 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast
- 9:00 a.m. Review of First Day’s Topics – Ms. Perdue
- 9:15 a.m. Spousal Rights (including joint and survivor benefits, Qualified Pre-Retirement Survivor Annuities (QPSAs), and Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs)) – Ms. Perdue
- 10:15 a.m. Networking Break
- 10:30 a.m. Plan Loans – Mr. Laing
- 11:00 a.m. Reporting and Disclosure Requirements – Ms. Perdue
- 11:30 a.m. Questions and Answers
- 12:00 noon Lunch Break
- 1:30 p.m. Section 401(k) Plans – Mr. Laing
- 2:15 p.m. Taxation of Distributions and Required Minimum Distributions – Mr. Berglund
- 3:00 p.m. Networking Break
- 3:15 p.m. Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) – Ms. Watson
- 4:15 p.m. Questions and Answers
- 4:45 p.m. Adjournment for the Day
Saturday, March 4, 2006
- 8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
- 8:30 a.m. Review of Prior Days’ Topics – Ms. Perdue
- 8:45 a.m. Logistics of Plan Termination – Ms. Perdue
- 9:45 a.m. Networking Break
- 10:00 a.m. Securities Laws and ERISA – Mr. Berglund
- 10:30 a.m. Ethical Issues in Representing Employee Benefit Plans – Ms. Watson
- 11:30 a.m. Bankruptcy Laws and Employee Benefit Plans – Ms. Perdue
- 12:00 noon Questions and Answers
- 12:30 p.m. Adjournment
Total 60-minute hours of instruction: 16
Suggested Prerequisite: Limited experience in general legal practice or completion of CLE Orientation Course
Educational Objective: Acquisition of knowledge and skills to develop proficiency as a practitioner
Level of Instruction: Basic
Here's what registrants have said about this course:
I really enjoyed this course. All faculty were very clearly knowledgeable and prepared. This was a great course and I would definitely recommend it to others.
Pam [Perdue] was excellent. One of the best speakers I’ve heard. Great materials and presentation!
Excellent presentations and topics chosen by speakers. Great reference materials provided.
The course is on a high plane of professionalism. It was thorough and cut to the chase. The materials were excellent.
Ms. Perdue did an excellent job of presenting and coordinating the seminar.
The written materials were excellent and I expect to refer to them as a starting point in my practice.
Ms. Perdue was outstanding: clear, concise, understandable by someone with very little experience and made topics that can be overwhelming quite easy to understand. The course was great, and did exactly what I hoped for as a new employee benefits practitioner.
