Editorial: Employee Benefits in Florida
01 November 2007
Employee benefits and related fields of law such as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) are areas of major concern to US companies, with potential liability in this area stretching to millions of dollars. As such, clients rely on outside counsel to provide drafting skills, advice and, when necessary, representation in this area. This chapter lists 17 individuals who should be considered the leaders in the field, drawn from 13 firms.
Four firms earned multiple representatives in these pages. Akerman Senterfitt has one of the largest employee benefits practices in Florida. In their Orlando office, Richard Hurt has a “fine reputation”. His plan preparation work, whether related to the administration of tax-qualified and non-qualified plans, or consolidating plans in M&A, is “of the highest calibre”. His Miami-based colleague Peter Salomon counts Samsung Electronics America, Lennar Corporation and the Geo Group among his clients, and is reportedly “first-class for employee benefits, ERISA and executive compensation matters”. Co-chair of the employee benefits section of the Florida Bar, he was praised for his design and implementation work, as well as his representation of plans and plan sponsors in regulatory proceedings, and for his knowledge of ERISA and benefit aspects of corporate transactions.
Dean Mead Egerton Bloodworth Capouano & Bozarth PA in Orlando also has two partners listed. Robert Mead is past president of the Employee Benefits Council of Central Florida and a “big name” – he has been called “one of the deans of the bar”. His work in the health-care sector was singled out for praise. Joseph Van Heyde is “top of the pile” and was commended across the full spectrum of employee benefit work. His work relating to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) was especially well received, and he represents over 100 clients with respect to tax-qualified retirement pages.
Gray Robinson PA is home to two of the most highly-rated individuals in the research. The “terrific” Michael Canan is based in the Orlando office and “should be placed in the highest echelon”, according to interviewees. A member of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, he was picked out for his ESOP, plan design and ‘401(k)’ work in particular. In Tampa, Kelley Bosecker is a Florida Bar Board-certified tax lawyer, and she is known for her ERISA, executive compensation and estate planning acumen. Her “meticulous and flawless” benefit plan preparation garnered praise, and she is particularly well known for her representation of government employees.
Alton Ward was commended as “extremely capable” and leads the executive compensation and employee benefits practice at Hill Ward & Henderson PA. He gained local renown as employee benefits counsel for the Florida Bar, and is a member of the Bar’s employees’ pension plan retirement committee. His colleague Dennis Tweed is similarly well respected, a “very fine lawyer” recognised by both our corporate and private-practice sources as an “authority on employee benefits, deferred compensation, ESOPs and ERISA”.
Lawrence Ploucha gives Atkinson Diner Stone Mankuta & Ploucha PA a presence, and he is considered a “definite for inclusion in any list of the best in the state”. Past president of the South Florida Employee Benefits Council, he is a “highly respected member of the local bar”. In Miami, the “very sharp” Stephen Lapidus is founder and chairman of Greenberg Traurig LLP’s executive compensation and employee benefits group. Described as “unbelievably smart”, his “innovative and effective” development and implementation of executive compensation strategies garnered praise, as did his work relating to pension, profit sharing and 401(k) plans and his advice to plan fiduciaries and regarding plan issues arising from M&A.
James Davis is based in the Fort Lauderdale office of Gunster Yoakley & Stewart PA, and possesses a “very fine legal mind”. Locally renowned as former chair of the Florida Bar’s board of legal specialisation and education, he is also a member of the ABA committee on employee benefits and regarded as a “star” by his contemporaries.
Frederick Rothenberg at Holland & Knight LLP is an “éminence grise” in the eyes of one of our sources – “one of the pillars of the community”, said another. Noted for the excellence of his ERISA work, he is also an expert on qualified and non-qualified deferred compensation plan issues. A founder member of both the Tampa Bay Pension Council and the Florida West Coast Employee Benefits Council, Rothenberg is a “major figure in the local scene”, and also a member of the committee on employee benefits of the ABA section of taxation.
Andrew Fawbush is in the Jacksonville office of the newly formed Dewey & Lebouef LLP. Called a “very fine individual”, the depth of his knowledge on fiduciary issues, as well as all types of plan, executive compensation and related corporate governance, was recognised by interviewees. Fawbush is also “phenomenally good” for the benefit plan and executive compensation issues related to corporate transactions, and he has also served as benefits and ERISA counsel to several Fortune 500 companies. In Sarasota, Carol Myers of Myers & Shaw PA is “one of the best in Florida” and a “quite outstanding choice”. President of the firm, she was recognised for her work on all types of benefit plans and compensation arrangements, and was also commended for her M&A and bankruptcy-related work and “immensely impressive” representation of clients before the IRS and Department of Labor.
Joseph Edwards is senior counsel and managing partner of the Tampa office of Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP. Described as “fantastic for both employee benefits planning and ERISA work”, he also stood out for his estate planning practice. Sharon Quinn Dixon at Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson PA is considered to be a “very fine lawyer”, and “more than worthy of inclusion”. Past president of the South Florida Employee Benefits Council, she is highly rated for her COBRA expertise in particular.
The Tampa office of Trenam Kemker Scharf Barkin Frye O’Neill & Mullis PA is home to Roberta Casper Watson, who was described to researchers as “unbelievably smart”. Her work across the full spectrum of employee benefits law is said to be “awesome”, with interviewees picking out her expertise in the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act and ERISA in particular. A charter fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, her profile was further raised through her ABA activity; she is past chair of the health law section’s employee benefits interest group, past chair of the ABA tax section’s employee benefits committee and also formerly chaired the ABA’s joint committee on employee benefits.
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