Labor and employment
McDermott Will & Schulte’s ‘highly responsive and helpful’ employee benefit and executive compensation team sets itself apart from competitors, as the firm has one of the largest healthcare and benefit practices in the nation and it provides counsel for individual executives and management alike. Praised by clients for its ’creative design work’, the global chair of the department is Boston’s Andrew Liazos, who excels in executive compensation plan design as well as complex matters of ERISA compliance and litigation, advising clients spanning from Fortune 500 companies to tax-exempt organizations and individual senior executives, and he is ably assisted by Boston’s Alden Bianchi, an authority in health and welfare plans. Leading the Chicago office are Jeffrey Holdvogt, a specialist in internal compliance reviews, healthcare and pension plans, as well as Jacob Mattinson and Lisa Loesel, who provide counsel in benefit design following large M&A.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
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Profile
Position
Andrew C. Liazos is the global chair of McDermott’s Benefits & Compensation Practice Group and has practiced at McDermott for over twenty-five years.
Andrew is a nationally recognized leader representing boards and senior executives on significant, multi-disciplinary compensation and benefits related matters, with an emphasis on plan design, practice before regulators, litigation and governance. Chambers USA reports that Andrew is a “first-rate lawyer” and an “excellent, top-notch leader in his field.” Best Lawyers reports from clients that “Andrew’s responsiveness to problems is unequaled,” he “provides the utmost customer service,” “working with him is a great experience,” and that he has “a practical approach to issues.”
Please visit McDermott website for full biography: https://www.mwe.com/people/liazos-andrew-c/
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Creative design, thoughtful consideration of how to build a plan that can be easily explained to non-practitioners/plan participants’
‘Brian Tiemann is solid, practical attorney with detailed knowledge to tackle tough issues and questions, respectful of the need to manage time.’
‘We have followed the lawyers to McDermott because their knowledge of ERISA is unmatched; they have the ability to explain a complex area of the law in a way that others can understand; they are efficient in their work and stand by their budget; and they are highly responsive and helpful.’
‘Brian Tiemann is beyond critical for his historical knowledge of our plans due to the multitude of M&A activity that has occurred over the past couple decades. When legal opinions/recommendations are requested, his write ups are always comprehensive and provide purposeful explanations. He is also invaluable in providing support with difficult inquiries that myself and my team deal with on a fairly regular basis. ’
‘Subject matter experts’
‘Chris Nemeth and Allison Wilkerson are extremely responsive and excellent problem solvers’
Key clients
- American Staffing Association
- BDO
- Citibank
- Darden Restaurants
- Discover Financial Services
- Ericsson
- ERISA Industry Committee
- Kellanova (Kellogg’s)
- Lenovo
- Liberty Mutual
Work highlights
Engaged on behalf of Liberty Mutual’s behalf on the “derisking” the of the company’s pension funds.
Advised on a big annuity lift out project for Ericsson, the multinational telecommunications company, which helped to reduce the ongoing burden of pension obligations on the company.
Created a cutting-edge group health insurance plan for the YWCA USA, the nonprofit organization, which is designed to offer lower cost group health insurance.