The Legal 500

Within ERISA litigation , Groom Law Group is a third tier firm,

Clients heap praise on Washington-based Groom Law Group, a boutique firm that specializes in employee benefits. When asked to describe the partners’ characteristics, one client says: ‘experienced, common-sense, deeply involved, excellent knowledge of the law and how it is applied’. Another comments on the ‘integrity, honesty and responsiveness. I note no weaknesses’. Yet another says, ‘I have been responsible for somewhere north of $10m of legal fees in my career. Groom Law Group is a 10, and I don’t think anyone could challenge it on service and expertise in the field’. The firm provides assistance on all ERISA litigation matters, such as ERISA breach of fiduciary duty litigation, including 401(k) fee litigation against plan sponsors and service providers, 401(k) plan employer stock cases and ESOP related lawsuits and controversies stemming from the preemption, prudence and prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA. Active clients include New York Life Insurance, Northwest Airlines, United Health Group, Delphi Automotive Systems and The Bank of New York Mellon. Of particular note, practice leader Michael Prame is described as ‘essentially flawless’. Gary Ford and Thomas Gigot are according to one client, ‘the best among the best’. Meanwhile, Lonie Hassel ‘always delivered top quality advice in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost’. Ted Scallet is also recommended. Christopher Rillo recently left the firm to join Schiff Hardin LLP.

Within Employee benefits and executive compensation, Groom Law Group is a first tier firm,

Groom Law Group, ‘is the best employee benefits firm in the country – there is no other law firm which has the expertise in ERISA, executive compensation schemes – across-the-board in anything to do with employee benefits work’. The firm, the largest employee benefits specialty firm in the US, is an entirely different place in the EBEC market to the heavyweight New York firms. The firm does not handle transactional matters, but instead divides into nine practice groups specializing in subsets of the discipline. Typical work includes the design and redesign of large retirement and health benefit plans for major corporations, detailed technical issues such as stock option backdating, and tax issues for large pension plan sponsors in connection with back-loading and other tax qualification requirements. The economic crisis has brought in numerous instructions connected with Chapter 11 bankruptcy issues and negotiations with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Clients comment that, ‘it is well-managed firm, populated with attorneys who know their particular specialty; it does not try to be all things to all clients, unlike some firms, it sticks to what it does and does it very well’. The Washington DC-based complement includes a number of former government lawyers, and the firm is commended for ‘knowing its way around the corridors’, and is also adept at lobbying on specific EBEC issues. Recent representative assignments include serving as lead outside counsel in the re-design of a number of executive compensation arrangements at several Fortune 100 companies in connection with complex new requirements under section 409A of the Tax Code, acting as lead counsel for several Fortune 500 clients and coalitions on health care reform and serving as registered lobbyists for a number of clients and coalitions on such issues, representing large multiemployer pension plans in complex investigations before federal government agencies, representing one of the largest 403(b) tax-deferred annuity plans in the US in bringing their plan into compliance with the first IRS re-write of the applicable rules in 40 years, and assisting several Fortune 500 companies in establishing captive insurance programs for employee benefit liabilities, including tax advice and obtaining Department of Labor exemptions. The firm frequently receives referrals from other law firms in connection with EBEC matters. Active clients of the firm include American Benefits Council, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, California State Teachers Retirement System, Campbell Soup, CBS, ConocoPhillips, Delphi Automotive Systems, Dow Chemical, Eli Lilly, Hess Corporation, Morgan Stanley and Northwest Airlines. Lawyers nominated by clients for excellence include Roberta Ufford, who is ‘practical, responsive and efficient, and very knowledgeable in the area of fiduciary responsibility’. David Levine, ‘extremely knowledgeable and incredibly responsive’, and Andree St. Martin, who is ‘a star: she is calm and patient in her delivery and is able to explain the nuances of ERISA to a novice; her writing, and oral communications are superb’are also recommended. Plan funding and restructuring group leader Lonie Hassel is ‘practical, intelligent, professional, has a calm demeanor and the highest integrity and, above all, I enjoy working with her’. Client accolades are also awarded to Lou Mazawey, plan design and taxation leader, David Powell, who specializes in public sector retirement plans, John McGuiness, Steve Saxon, Jon Breyfogle and Mark Lofgren.