Editorial: Employee Benefits in California

01 August 2007

One firm comes out on top. Trucker Huss in San Francisco claims to be the largest specialist employee benefits firm outside Washington, DC, and this high concentration of expertise leads to an unrivalled four partners in our final reckoning. This total is greater than any other firm, and all four are fellows of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (ACEBC). Lee Trucker is former chair of the employee benefits committee of the State Bar of California and an “absolutely top-notch lawyer”, praised for his “immaculate plan preparation and design work” in particular. Fellow named partner Bradford Huss is “one of the stars” in the area. Respondents were particularly impressed with his ERISA litigation practice, as well as his work as mediator and neutral. Huss was also well regarded for his knowledge of fiduciary responsibility matters. Charles Storke is well known for his work on behalf of the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund, the largest Taft-Hartley trust in the United States. Storke’s “expertise in union related matters” was also much admired. His advice to clients on the requirements of new laws and ongoing benefits matters was commended to researchers, as was his representation of clients in arbitrations, government audits and federal court litigation under ERISA. The fourth nominee is Barbara Creed, who is of counsel to the firm. Known for her work for publicly held companies and health care organisations, “she has been at the top of the game for many years”. Her expertise across a range of areas, including 401(k) plans, executive compensation and retirement plans, impressed our sources.


David West is one of two inclusions from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Based in the Los Angeles office, he is “quite brilliant” for compliance counselling. Locally recognised as a former chairman of the employee benefits committee of the taxation section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, West is also a charter fellow of the ACEBC. Co-chair of the firm’s executive compensation and employee benefits group Stephen Fackler is “a master at designing plans and compensation arrangements”, and has advised a range of clients including both public and private companies, private equity funds and boards of directors. He also counsels directors regarding compensation and indemnification arrangements and executives on employment and severance arrangements.

Donald Meaders of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP in Los Angeles is a “pension plan guru”, regarded as an expert in the area of institutional pension plan investment and related fiduciary matters. Like David West, he is a past chair of the state bar association’s employee benefits committee, tax section, and a fellow of the ACEBC. The firm can count Citizen’s Business Bank, Inland Empire Hotel Corporation and Macrovision Corporation among its tax, employee benefits and global compensation clients. The second featured partner from the firm is Mark Hess. An “outstanding tax lawyer”, both Hess and his colleague were highly commended for pension plan-related work.

Linda Griffey is co-chair of O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s employee benefits and executive compensation practice, and one of the most highly rated individuals in the state. The firm represents Hilton Hotels, US Airways, Qwest Communications and Bell Atlantic in executive compensation, pension and health plan related matters, and litigation clients in this field include Ford Motor Company and Verizon. Griffey is a Fellow of the ACEBC, and is highly rated for the design, implementation and administration of a range of different types of plans. She was also recognised for her work on benefits and compensation issues related to transactional matters and IPOs. Her colleague Wayne Jacobsen in the Newport Beach office is also highly regarded in both transactional and litigation aspects of employee benefits work. In the former category he represented an airline in one of the largest ESOP transactions in US history, while in the latter he represented a large electronics company regarding qualified domestic relations orders.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has a strong profile in this area. The firm negotiated the compensation and benefits aspects of Cisco Systems’ $7 billion acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta, as well as representing the board of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System in two important victories involving approximately $6 billion in potential liabilities. Jonathan Ocker is chair of the compensation and benefits group and “one of the deans of California bar”. He is joined by the “excellent” Richard Gilbert. A charter Fellow of the ACEBC, Gilbert is known for his ERISA exemption work on behalf of clients such as Fleet Boston, Capital One and American Express, as well as ERISA advice to fund sponsors such as Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Chase. Based out of Orrick’s San Francisco and New York offices, he has a “national reputation that is as impressive as it is well deserved”. Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen is the final firm to feature multiple partners in the following pages. Bruce Ashton is an “ESOP expert”, known for his work on the funding and installation of such plans. Colleague Frederick Reish is a charter Fellow of the ACEBC and recognised for his “exceptional skill” across a range of matters in this field, not least in IRS related matters.

Robin Schachter “belongs on any list of the best”. Commended for his “extremely proficient” work across the full spectrum of employee benefits, ERISA and executive compensation matters, he gives Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP a presence in this chapter. Elsewhere, the international dimension of Edward Burmeister’s practice at Baker & McKenzie LLP impressed our sources. He has assisted over 300 multinational companies in extending their stock plans to employees outside the United States, and his local profile is also high, due in part to his work as chairman of the State Bar of California’s taxation section.

Robert Ridley of Farmer & Ridley LLP “knows everything there is to know about ERISA law”, and interviewees described Scott Spector at Fenwick & West LLP as “very fine indeed”. Based in Silicon Valley, his clients include Cisco Systems, Symantec Corporation and Virgin America, and he is known both for the establishment and administration of employee benefits plans, and also for his expertise in compensation issues that arise in connection with transactions in this field. Thomas Kirschbaum at Irell & Manella LLP is a “high-end guy”, a Fellow of the ACEBC who impresses with his proficiency across a range of areas, particularly in all types of benefit plans and also in stock-option related matters.

James Barrall at Latham & Watkins LLP is one of the leading individuals in the state overall. Global chair of the firm’s benefits and compensation group and another former chair of the taxation section of the state bar association, Barrall is, like many of the lawyers in this chapter, well schooled in issues relating to stock-option backdating, and is “someone you would want in your corner”. James DiBernardo of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP is also an “authority” in this area, as well as being widely praised for his transactions-related benefits practice. Robert Johnson at the Los Angeles office of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP is an “outstanding executive compensation lawyer” and received the V Judson Klein Award from the taxation section of the State Bar of California in 1997, which he has also chaired.

Our sources “would give a very high grade” to Michael Lawson, the leader of the employee benefits group in the Los Angeles office of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP. Highly respected, he was praised for his “adept handling” of all types of plans, and is also recommended for his “transactional know-how”.

Ethan Lipsig founded the ERISA practice group at Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP, a group that is now 40 lawyers strong. A “very bright guy”, he is regarded as “the best around” in some quarters, and garnered praise for his work across the whole spectrum of employee benefit-related matters – “he’s got it all,” according to one peer. A member of the employee benefits committee of the American Bar Association’s section of labour and employment law, Lipsig is said to have pioneered the section 401(k) plan among many other innovations. He “casts a long shadow across us all”, in the admiring words of one respondent.

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