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Dickstein Shapiro attorneys are leaders in the fields of ERISA litigation and counseling. Firm attorneys have been retained as expert witnesses in ERISA cases, counseled numerous organizations, and conducted seminars throughout the United States on ERISA issues.

Dickstein Shapiro has been active in the field of employee benefit litigation since ERISA was enacted in 1974. Firm attorneys successfully litigated through the Supreme Court the Daniel case (439 U.S. 551 (1979)), which was an attempt to apply the federal securities laws to noncontributory pension plans. In that same case, the firm defeated an effort in the District Court to certify one of the largest class actions at the time. The firm has defended its clients in numerous ERISA cases involving the Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Treasury, private plans, and insurance companies. Dickstein Shapiro ERISA attorneys have extensive experience in cases dealing with insurance coverage, bankruptcy, and class actions. The firm authored ERISA Litigation: A Basic Guide (1993).

Dickstein Shapiro also provides counseling to businesses in connection with ERISA and tax matters, including the design, drafting, and implementation of all types of employee benefit plans, all facets of executive compensation planning, and the negotiation and preparation of employment contracts, deferred compensation agreements, severance agreements, and stock option plans, as well as, other forms of equity and incentive compensation. Firm attorneys have defended clients in internal audits and IRS and Labor Department investigations involving employee benefit plans. The firm also has expertise in mergers and acquisitions, providing services in due diligence review, and negotiation of representations and warranties with respect to employee benefit plan matters. Firm clients include, among others, a newspaper, a regional bank, a university, and a large commercial leasing broker.

Dickstein Shapiro has been involved in all types of ERISA litigation during the past 33 years. For example, the firm has:

• successfully defended an employer trustee of a pension fund in a case involving issues of breach of fiduciary and insurance coverage;
• defeated attempts to certify national class actions;
• defended trusts in actions by the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Treasury involving alleged breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions;
• litigated, to trial, the defense of cases involving denial of pension benefits;
• recovered from fiduciary liability insurance companies monetary coverage sufficient to settle cases against the firm’s clients;
• obtained an amendment to the Form 5500 of the Department of Labor for the benefit of a client;
• sought and obtained recovery against service providers who have breached their duties against the firm’s clients, including money managers, actuaries, custodians, brokers, and others.
• provided tax and ERISA compliance advice to a magazine publisher with regard to three retirement plans (401(k), profit sharing, and defined benefit), as well as all welfare plans, including advice on reduction of costs under retiree health program and restructuring and/or freezing or terminating defined benefit plan.