Significant Issues for 403(b) Plans in 2014

 Michael L. Hadley is a partner in the law firm Davis & Harman LLP. He practices in the area of employee benefits, advising clients on the full range of tax, ERISA, and other laws affecting benefit plans. He has a particular focus on helping financial institutions that sell products to defined contribution and defined benefit plans, IRAs and similar plans navigate the special rules that govern those plans. He also provides clients with strategic advice, plan design, counseling, and compliance assistance for qualified plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, non-qualified executive compensation, employment agreements, and health and other welfare plans.

Mr. Hadley was formerly Associate Counsel for Pension Regulation at the Investment Company Institute, the national association of U.S. investment companies. His responsibilities included advocating for the Institute’s membership before Congress, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and the Securities Exchange Commission on retirement security issues and assisting ICI members and staff in understanding tax and ERISA rules. Among other duties he managed ICI’s work implementing the Pension Protection Act and responding to 401(k) fee, investment advice, and fiduciary developments in Congress, DOL, and the courts.

Prior to joining ICI, Mr. Hadley was an associate with Covington & Burling LLP, where he advised clients on employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, provided advice on ERISA litigation, and assisted with pension and benefits issues in mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.

Mr. Hadley is a frequent speaker on the latest retirement savings policy developments coming out of Congress and the regulatory agencies and has testified before Treasury, IRS, and Department of Labor. A sampling of articles he has authored or co-authored: ERISA Compliance for Investment Advisers: A Q&A Guide To DOL’s 408(b)(2) Disclosure Regulation, Investment Lawyer, Vol. 20, No. 7 (July 2013); The Economics of Providing 401(k) Plans: Services, Fees, and Expenses, 2010 ICI Research Perspective, Vol.17, No. 4 (June 2011); and 401(k) Plans: A 25-Year Retrospective, ICI Research Perspective, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Nov. 2006).

Mr. Hadley was a law clerk for the Honorable Gerald Tjoflat, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his B.A., cum laude, from the College of William and Mary.

Mary Cassidy practices in the employee benefits area. Her practice focuses on the tax aspects of employee benefit plans, including tax-qualified retirement plans (including defined benefit pension and 401(k) plans and employee share ownership plans (ESOP)), 403(b) plans, church plans, voluntary employees' beneficiary associations (VEBA), welfare plans,and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements for tax-exempt organizations. She regularly advises clients on a broad range of employee benefits matters, including the design and implementation of tax-qualified retirement plans and 403(b) plans, benefit plan compliance with federal tax and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requirements, correction of benefit plan defects through Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) self-correction programs, and nondiscrimination testing of church plans. She represents clients with respect to obtaining rulings and determination letters from the IRS, obtaining compliance statements from the IRS under its voluntary compliance program, and IRS and DOL audits of employee plans.

Evan Giller has worked in the field of employee benefit law and ERISA for over 25 years, specializing in the retirement and deferred compensation plans of tax-exempt organizations and governmental employers.  He has extensive experience advising employers and plan service providers on a wide range of retirement plan issues, including plan design, plan documents, operational issues, corrections and fiduciary responsibility, and has particular expertise regarding 403(b) and 457 plans.  In addition, Evan’s practice includes advising financial institutions on issues relating to the design and regulation of annuity products, in particular annuities used to fund retirement plans. 

Evan is a frequent speaker on issues relating to the retirement plans of tax-exempt organizations and governments and has presented for the American Law Institute, the SPARK Institute, the National Association of Business Officers, CUPA-HR, and the OECD.  He has been a contributing author to the 403(b) Answer Book (Wolters Kluwer) since its original publication in 1994.  He has also written articles for the SPARK Journal, the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation 2013.

Prior to joining Boutwell Fay, LLP, Evan was a founding member of Giller & Calhoun, LLC.  He previously served in various legal capacities at Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund, including General Counsel, Institutional Client Services.