Outside ERISA counsel -- name for this work? Forum

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Sum_Guy

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Outside ERISA counsel -- name for this work?

Post by Sum_Guy » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:52 pm

I'm a rising 2L with a non-law background in ERISA plans.

I'd like to leverage that background into employee benefits work on deals/transactions, but want to stay away from the type of outside counsel work I saw in my old career for ERISA plans (drafting plan documents, reviewing employee communications and detailed plan interpretation issues, etc).

Can someone help me with the jargon? I think the type of work I want is called "transactional work in employee benefits", but I'm not sure what the other one is called. How would attorneys at a big firm refer to work that I would call being "ERISA counsel"? (I heard one lawyer use the term "advisory work", but I think I may have misunderstood what he was referring to.)

Thanks!

milkisforbabies

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Re: Outside ERISA counsel -- name for this work?

Post by milkisforbabies » Tue Aug 03, 2021 9:25 pm

Sum_Guy wrote:
Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:52 pm
I'm a rising 2L with a non-law background in ERISA plans.

I'd like to leverage that background into employee benefits work on deals/transactions, but want to stay away from the type of outside counsel work I saw in my old career for ERISA plans (drafting plan documents, reviewing employee communications and detailed plan interpretation issues, etc).

Can someone help me with the jargon? I think the type of work I want is called "transactional work in employee benefits", but I'm not sure what the other one is called. How would attorneys at a big firm refer to work that I would call being "ERISA counsel"? (I heard one lawyer use the term "advisory work", but I think I may have misunderstood what he was referring to.)

Thanks!
I’ve done both kinds. I’d call what you want to do just “deal work” on the benefits side (though at most big firms, the same group will likely also handle Exec comp, so an M&A lawyer might use that (or “EBEC” or “ECEB”) as shorthand for the same work).

Outside ERISA counsel is often called compliance work, but you’ll also hear advisory work, plan counsel, or just ERISA counsel - it’s basically all the same thing (and a lot of big firms will have like one senior-level lawyer who does this work, usually as a kind of in-firm specialist for the bigger Exec comp/benefits group; you won’t get slotted into doing this early in your career at most firms with big corporate practices, but maybe Morgan Lewis/Proskauer still have juniors doing something along these lines).

Sum_Guy

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Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:23 pm

Re: Outside ERISA counsel -- name for this work?

Post by Sum_Guy » Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:50 pm

milkisforbabies wrote:
Tue Aug 03, 2021 9:25 pm
Sum_Guy wrote:
Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:52 pm
I'm a rising 2L with a non-law background in ERISA plans.

I'd like to leverage that background into employee benefits work on deals/transactions, but want to stay away from the type of outside counsel work I saw in my old career for ERISA plans (drafting plan documents, reviewing employee communications and detailed plan interpretation issues, etc).

Can someone help me with the jargon? I think the type of work I want is called "transactional work in employee benefits", but I'm not sure what the other one is called. How would attorneys at a big firm refer to work that I would call being "ERISA counsel"? (I heard one lawyer use the term "advisory work", but I think I may have misunderstood what he was referring to.)

Thanks!
I’ve done both kinds. I’d call what you want to do just “deal work” on the benefits side (though at most big firms, the same group will likely also handle Exec comp, so an M&A lawyer might use that (or “EBEC” or “ECEB”) as shorthand for the same work).

Outside ERISA counsel is often called compliance work, but you’ll also hear advisory work, plan counsel, or just ERISA counsel - it’s basically all the same thing (and a lot of big firms will have like one senior-level lawyer who does this work, usually as a kind of in-firm specialist for the bigger Exec comp/benefits group; you won’t get slotted into doing this early in your career at most firms with big corporate practices, but maybe Morgan Lewis/Proskauer still have juniors doing something along these lines).
You are gentleman(/woman) and a scholar. Exactly what I was looking for, plus some helpful context to boot. Thanks!

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