One of the biggest problems I see when new clients hire me is that they never bothered to review the provider contracts they signed years ago. It’s human nature — you’re excited to get the plan up and running, the provider drops…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Labor & Employment Law
One of my favorite movie scenes is from Donnie Brasco. You’ve got Al Pacino’s character, Lefty, leading his crew around Brooklyn, smashing open city parking meters with sledgehammers for a few dollars in dimes. The visual is…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
When it comes to retirement plan litigation, the common theme I’ve noticed over the years is that lawsuits rarely die in the early rounds. A fiduciary’s best hope is to win on summary judgment or at trial, but a motion to…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
One of my favorite movie scenes in Donnie Brasco is when Lefty and the crew bust open city parking meters for dimes because they’ve got to make their weekly nut. Sometimes, I feel like ERISA litigation is the same thing,…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
I ’ve been around the block long enough to know that ERISA doesn’t care about the latest shiny object. It doesn’t care whether CNBC is hyping Bitcoin as the new gold, or whether private equity firms are pounding the table about…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
A new Empower survey has made some waves in the retirement plan industry. According to their July 2025 survey, a striking 68% of advisors already use private market investments—things like private equity, private credit, and…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
When Congress passes a bill with a title like the “One Beautiful Bill,” you can already guess who had their fingerprints on it. Out of this legislation comes the so-called Trump Account, a new hybrid savings vehicle that sits…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law, Taxation
The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) is once again carrying water for the annuity industry, this time urging the Department of Labor to retain a regulatory safe harbor that’s already obsolete. The safe harbor in question,…
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/ Finance & Banking, Insurance, Labor & Employment Law
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) just dropped an RFI (RIN 1210–AC10) and some limited guidance on pooled employer plans (PEPs), asking for public input, especially from small employers…
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/ Administrative Law, Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
Word on the street is that President Trump plans to issue an executive order promoting private equity and other private investments in 401(k) plans. While he can’t mandate it, he can certainly nudge it, and that’s exactly what’s…
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/ Finance & Banking, Securities Law
I t was 2001 when Aerosmith dropped Just Push Play, and while it was no Rocks or Toys in the Attic, it packed a punch. That title track? A distorted, energetic anthem about dropping the hesitation and just going forward. No…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
If you’re old enough to flip burgers, serve coffee, or serve your country at 18, you should be able to save for retirement too…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
One of my favorite sayings is: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” To me, it’s a reminder that even when we mean well, things don’t always turn out the way we hoped…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
In the retirement plan business, I’ve watched too many plan providers obsess over competitors—who’s stealing clients, who’s lowering fees, who’s suddenly offering “cutting-edge” solutions. But here’s the truth: if a plan sponsor…
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/ Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
Sometimes, in the strange world of ERISA litigation, you get a surprise. And in Hutchins v. Hewlett Packard, we got one: the Department of Labor, yes, that DOL, the one whose name alone strikes fear into the heart of many plan…
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/ Administrative Law, Finance & Banking, Labor & Employment Law
