Michael A. Hart

Regularly updates administrative and investment fiduciaries of a variety of tax-qualified retirement plans on ERISA 401(k) plan investment and fee class action litigation. Regularly reviews and negotiates service agreements with third party administrators for tax-qualified retirement plans and assists plan fiduciaries with the selection and monitoring of such providers

Represented sponsor of $500M defined benefit pension plan in connection with Department of Labor investigation into fiduciary procedures for locating missing participants

Advised employer with respect to the multibillion dollar restructuring and reorganization of its salaried and collectively bargained pension plans (including several dozen different benefit structures) in preparation for its multistage corporate divestiture strategy Advised employer with respect to spinoff of more than $1B of defined benefit pension liabilities in connection with corporate divestiture of non-core business Regularly provides advice to sellers and purchasers in corporate acquisition with respect to the impact of the acquisition on multiemployer pension withdrawal liability and estimates of such liability. Regularly updates administrative and investment fiduciaries of a variety of tax-qualified retirement plans on ERISA 401(k) plan investment and fee class action litigation.

Served as ESOP counsel to purchaser in the sale of a $270M manufacturing company in which an ESOP was a substantial minority owner.

Advised investment management firm with respect to Internal Revenue Code Section 409A and ERISA “top hat” exemption failures in connection with a nonquailfied deferred compensation bonus arrangement.

Advised several states regarding the use of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in state-mandated automatic IRA enrollment statutes

Advised IRA trustee with respect to design and rollout of its proprietary estate planning IRA product, including the drafting of the trust agreement and disclosure statement and related promotional and internal training materials.

Advised IRA custodian regarding structuring of IRA products with respect nontraditional investments in hard-to-value assets, including advice regarding valuation and unrelated business income tax issues in connection with such investments.

Served as ESOP counsel to the seller of a manufacturing and service company that was wholly owned by an ESOP.

Advised IRA custodian in connection with transfer of IRA custodial duties for several thousand accounts to successor in connection with corporate divestiture

Regularly provides design and compliance advice to several Fortune 500 companies with respect to a variety of different types of tax-qualified defined contribution retirement plans and defined benefit pension plans with assets of more than $1B.

Advised maritime company regarding potential exposure for multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liability of an affiliate, including determination of estimated withdrawal liability and determination of controlled group.

Advised consumer product manufacturer with respect to the defense of a multiemployer pension plan’s claim for unpaid employer contributions