Regulatory Ramblings: Episode 74 - Global Women in AI/Corporate Director Liability: Discretionary, Not Fiduciary with Tram Anh Nguyen and Marc I. Steinberg
Choosing a Trustee: Navigating the Complexities and Key Considerations
Five Tips for a New Public Company Director
Sunday Book Review: June 15, 2025. The Books on Corporate Governance Edition
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Navigating Fiduciary Responsibilities in a Tide-Turning ESG Era
How ERISA Litigators Strengthen Plan Compliance and Risk Management: One-on-One with Jeb Gerth
What happens when a majority owner makes a bad-faith capital call?
#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®
John Wick - What You Need To Know about the Corporate Transparency Act
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
Once Removed Episode 24: Expressing Goals and Intent for the Trust
Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
A Primer On Trusts - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
Podcast - Deberes fiduciarios de los administradores
New SEC Private Funds Rules – What Is Happening and What You Need to Know - Troutman Pepper Podcast
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
BVI Companies and M&A
On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (the “Executive Order”),1 requiring the Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Securities...more
On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 which rescinds the DOL’s prior Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-1 which had warned 401(k) plan fiduciaries against adding...more
On January 10, 2025, in Spence v. American Airlines, a federal district court in Texas ruled that American Airlines (the company) and the committee overseeing its 401(k) plans (the committee) breached their duty of loyalty...more
On January 10, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that American Airlines and its employee benefit committee (EBC) breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement...more
A district court in New York recently dismissed a putative class action challenging retirement plan recordkeeping and investment management fees. The case is Singh v. Deloitte LLP, No. 21-cv-8458, 2023 WL 186679 (S.D.N.Y....more
On March 10, 2022, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 (Release) addressing “cryptocurrency” investment in 401(k) retirement plans. In its Release, the DOL expressed...more
The DOL’s (DOL) recent warning that it is launching a new investigative program aimed at plans that offer investments in cryptocurrency and related products, including through brokerage windows, sent shockwaves through the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) last month issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-1 - 401(k) Plan Investments in “Cryptocurrencies” (the “Release”) in which it strongly cautions ERISA plan fiduciaries to use...more
It started sometime last year and, in hindsight, was inevitable. Clients with 401(k) plans and a crypto-savvy employee population began asking whether they could offer cryptocurrency as a plan investment option. In the...more
Hinting that the US Department of Labor (DOL) is currently working on guidance related to cryptocurrency, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration recently commented that the DOL...more
Among the many claims brought by plaintiffs challenging investment offerings in defined contribution plans is the claim that plans should offer stable value funds in lieu of more conservative capital preservation funds, such...more
In December 2018, we reported here that the Second Circuit became the first court at any level to allow an ERISA stock-drop claim to survive a motion to dismiss since the Supreme Court revamped the pleading standard for such...more
The US District Court for the District of Colorado granted partial summary judgment to 401(k) fiduciaries, holding that ERISA’s six-year statute of repose barred some claims and rejecting challenges to the plan’s fees....more
In the past two years, more than 16 prominent colleges and universities across the country have been targeted by class action lawsuits filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) challenging the fees and...more
The company that told us we can do home improvement by ourselves might not have been able to properly run their 401(k) plan. Home Depot is now the target of a $140 million class-action lawsuit that was filed in the U.S....more
Transition Period Extension - In an August 9th court filing, the DOL announced it will extend the transition period for three prohibited transaction exemptions relating to the fiduciary investment advice rule (the...more
The last ten years have seen a proliferation of high-profile class actions alleging breach of ERISA fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty against plan fiduciaries. The claims are usually based upon alleged excessive...more
There has been a recent spike in attacks on 401(k) and retirement plans by cyber criminals. Some have been reported publicly, and we are aware of several nonpublic incidents as well....more
Editor's Overview - This month we take a look at the plaintiffs' past successes in fee litigations, and the influx of such lawsuits seeking to impose heightened fiduciary standards for 401(k) plans. Regardless of the...more
I love boxing and one of my favorite fights is when George Foreman shocked the world and knocked out Michael Moorer to become heavyweight champion at age 45. Jim Lampley doing the HBO broadcast proclaimed: “it happened! It...more
After receiving and reviewing extensive feedback on its earlier proposals, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued final regulations expanding the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more
In a marked departure from the overwhelming success employers experienced before the Supreme Court in recent years, the less successful recently wrapped 2014-2015 term could be an indication that the judicial tides may be...more
On May 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Tibble et al. v. Edison International et al., No. 13-550 (S. Ct. May 18, 2015) that ordinary principles of trust law impose on ERISA fiduciaries a duty to continually...more
On May 18, 2015, the United State Supreme Court, by a 9-0 vote, vacated and remanded the Ninth Circuit’s holding in Tibble, et al. v. Edison International, et al., 729 F.3d 1110 (9th Cir. 2013). Tibble is an “excessive fee”...more
Former and current annuity holders sued John Hancock Life Insurance Company in New Jersey federal court several years ago, alleging that, as a service provider to their 401(k) plans, John Hancock was an ERISA fiduciary and...more