Pension, Profit-Sharing, Welfare, and Other Compensation Plans
Why Attend?
Two-and-a-half days of intensive analysis provide the breadth and depth you need on advanced employee benefits issues!
Are you current on all the latest health care reform-related legislation and guidance? Do you know what drafting changes must be implemented?
What important employee benefits decisions have come out of the courts?
What are the best practices for offering leaves of absence?
What are the new requirements for determination letter requests?
What’s the latest with the Department of Labor’s proposed redefinition of a “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you need to attend this course!
What You Will Learn
This annual advanced course of study, presented in Chicago for the first time and comprising more than 15 hours of instruction, examines the most important aspects of pension, profit-sharing, welfare, and other compensation plans, including recent developments in litigation, legislation, and federal regulations, enforcement, and guidance. Top private practitioners, other benefits specialists, and current and former government speakers, including a representative from the Treasury Department, provide their insights on the latest issues and will be available to answer your most pressing questions throughout the program. The discussions throughout the course are transactional, dealing with “how to do it” and not offering merely an explanation of the law itself.
Topics include:
• Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
• Anti-Cutback Rule
• Employee Benefits in Mergers and Acquisitions
• International Issues
• Ethics in Representing Plans and Employers (one hour)
• Executive Compensation
• And much, much more!
The course also provides opportunities to network with like-minded colleagues from around the country, including a reception following the conclusion of the first day’s presentations.
Planning Chairs
Pamela Baker, SNR Denton, Chicago (also on faculty)
William F. Sweetnam, Jr., Groom Law Group, Chartered, Washington, D.C.; former Benefits Tax Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Faculty
Hisham M. Amin, Groom Law Group, Chartered, Washington, D.C.
Harold Ashner, Keightley & Ashner LLP, Washington, D.C.
Gregory C. Braden, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Washington, D.C.
Gregory K. Brown, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Chicago
T. David Cowart, SNR Denton, Dallas
Julie Durkin, Senior Consulting Actuary, Towers Watson, Chicago
Jennifer E. Eller, Groom Law Group, Chartered, Washington, D.C.
Daniel L. Hogans, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Washington, D.C.
Kevin P. Knopf, Attorney-Adviser, Office of Benefits Tax Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C.
Andrew C. Liazos, McDermott Will & Emery, Boston
Doreen E. Lilienfeld, Shearman & Sterling LLP, New York
Helen Morrison, U. S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, D.C.
Pamela D. Perdue, Summers Compton Wells P.C., St. Louis
Tamara M. Simon, Buck Consultants, Washington, D.C.
Christy A. Tinnes, Groom Law Group, Chartered, Washington, D.C.
John L. Utz, Utz Miller & Eickman LLC, Overland Park, Kansas
Additional faculty to be confirmed
Program Schedule
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
8:00 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:55 a.m. Administrative Remarks – ALI-ABA Staff
VIDEO WEBCAST SEGMENT A | $329
9:00 a.m. New Employee Plans Determination Letter Program after IRS Announcement 2011-82 – Ms. Perdue
9:45 a.m. Current Issues for ESOPs – Mr. Brown
10:30 a.m. Networking and Refreshment Break
10:45 a.m. Executive Compensation Matters – Ms. Baker
11:30 a.m. Questions and Answers
12:00 noon Lunch Break
VIDEO WEBCAST SEGMENT B | $329
1:30 p.m. Legislative and Regulatory Update – Ms. Morrison
2:00 p.m. Ethical Concerns in Representing Plans and Employers – Mr. Amin
3:00 p.m. Networking and Refreshment Break
3:15 p.m. Anti-Cutback Rule in Practice: Who and What Is To Be Protected? – Ms. Perdue
4:00 p.m. Current Issues in Equity Plan Drafting –Mr. Hogans
4:45 p.m. Questions and Answers
5:00 p.m. Adjournment for the Day; Networking Reception for Registrants and Faculty
Thursday, April 26, 2012
8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Networking Session
VIDEO WEBCAST SEGMENT C | $329
9:00 a.m. Case Study on ERISA Fiduciary Issues – Ms. Eller
10:00 a.m. Best Practices for Leaves of Absence – Mr. Utz
10:45 a.m. Networking and Refreshment Break
11:00 a.m. Litigation Update (Part I) – Mr. Braden
11:45 a.m. Questions and Answers
12:00 noon Lunch Break
VIDEO WEBCAST SEGMENT D | $329
1:15 p.m. Litigation Update (Part II) – Mr. Braden
2:00 p.m. Representing Plan Investment Committees – Mr. Cowart
2:45 p.m. Networking and Refreshment Break
3:00 p.m. International Issues in Retirement and Executive Compensation Plans – Mr. Liazos
3:45 p.m. Employee Benefits Issues in Mergers and Acquisitions – Ms. Lilienfeld
4:30 p.m. Negoitiating with the PBGC -- Mr. Ashner
5:15 p.m. Questions and Answers
5:30 p.m. Adjournment for the Day
Friday, April 27, 2012
8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Networking Session
VIDEO WEBCAST SEGMENT E | $329
8:30 a.m. Small Retirement Plan Issues: Practical Implications for Law Firm Plans – Ms. Durkin
9:15 a.m. Networking and Refreshment Break
9:30 a.m. Current Issues with Health and Welfare Plans (with an Emphasis on Recent Guidance Regarding the Affordable Care Act) – Mss. Simon and Tinnes and Messrs. Knopf and Sweetnam
12:00 noon Questions and Answers
12:15 p.m. Adjournment
Total 60-minute hours of instruction: 15.75, including one hour of ethics
Suggested Prerequisite: Substantial experience in legal practice in subject matter
Educational Objective: Development of proficiency in performance of intricate and complex legal tasks within a narrow area
Level of Instruction: Advanced
Here's what registrants have said about this course:
"Excellent course – even better this year. I’ve been attending spanning 4 decades!"
“This is the national ERISA course that every practitioner should attend. The overview of the new health care legislation and the new final cash balance regulations was excellent. This course enables practitioners to protect their clients and apprises them of upcoming law changes. You cannot have a successful ERISA practice if you do not take this course.” – John W. Almquist, Internal Revenue Service, El Monte, California
“As usual a very timely, informative course covering in detail topics of interest to the practitioner in this area.” – Michael K. Levy, Las Vegas
“I look forward to this conference. The topics are always current and the speakers very knowledgeable. It is always an excellent 3-day snapshot of what is currently important in employee benefits. It is the one conference I look to attend each year. Excellent job!” – Kristi Renee Gauthier, Clark Hill PLC, Birmingham, Michigan
“The speakers did an excellent job of explaining very complex rules in an insightful manner. Good balance between practitioners and government officials.”
“I really liked the practical, real-world focus.”
