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Hey dudes

I'm starting off in my firm's ERISA group in September...and still don't really know what to expect. Can anyone fill me in on what type of assignments junior associates in the Exec Comp./ERISA/Employee benefits groups get? FWIW my firm is BigLaw.

TYIA

To some extent it depends on your firm/office. Different firms have a different specialty within ERISA/Exec Comp. The bread and butter of real ERISA work in many biglaw firms is handling the employee benefit component of corporate transactions like mergers. ERISA provides very specific requirements that fiduciaries have to meet in the transfer of plan assets and you will be advising the plan fiduciary on its obligations under ERISA and handling the regulatory component of the transfer. Early on, that basically means a lot of researching the tax code and ERISA and writing memos, as well as a lot of due diligence review. You'll also have to prepare filings for the regulatory agencies. In addition, you'll do lots of Title I work researching various plan management fiduciary issues outside of transactions. Finally, you will work on plan design, which means creating retirement and health plans for your clients. For this component, you will be drafting plan documents and again doing research and writing.

The exec comp portion means you'll be helping draft employment compensation agreements for senior executives that utilize very complex provisions of the tax code and the ERISA statute. That usually means more research assignments, but you will also work on drafts of the actual agreements. ERISA is a really interesting and unique area once you get a few years into it and past the very steep learning curve. Hope you enjoy!

At some firms/offices, the ERISA group is almost all executive comp. At others it's mostly M&A. And at many, it's a mix of all the areas I described. There's also ERISA litigation which is a whole different ballgame, but it sounds like you are in the general ERISA practice group.

how did you guys get into this practice area? it seems pretty small at most firms, but the lateral market looks good right now. What I can't figure out is where all the people who are lateraling got the 1-3 years of experience.

Anonymous User wrote:how did you guys get into this practice area? it seems pretty small at most firms, but the lateral market looks good right now. What I can't figure out is where all the people who are lateraling got the 1-3 years of experience.

A handful of assignments over the year in a general corporate group + a genuine interest + lots of firm need