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April 23, 2020 -- The Wagner Law Group, widely renowned as the country’s top ERISA and employee benefits law firm, has announced the launch of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice. The firm has historically provided legal counsel on ERISA and employee benefits matters that arise in the context of a bankruptcy or restructuring. The current economic climate has created the necessity of a dedicated practice group to provide the highest level of advice and support at the intersection of bankruptcy and employee benefits law.
The Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice group provides Special Counsel support on employee benefits matters to debtors, creditors, ad hoc or official creditor or equity committees, trustees, Taft-Hartley plans, employee groups or retiree associations, and other stakeholders. Where necessary, it will zealously litigate on their behalf. The practice group also utilizes the firm's unique and in-depth experience in PBGC counseling, disputes, and litigation. Led by Israel (Izzy) Goldowitz, former chief counsel to the PBGC, the firm regularly represent clients in PBGC investigations, terminations, and claims disputes, which commonly arise in restructuring or bankruptcy settings. The firm also counsels clients on plan fiduciary and administration matters, mergers and acquisitions, and executive compensation, which pose unique challenges in restructuring, bankruptcy planning, or bankruptcy.
The firm is deeply experienced with the following issues that often arise in the context of a bankruptcy orrestructuring: pension funding issues, including funding waivers; termination of single-employer plans; plan mergers, spinoffs, assumptions, or replacements; plan freezes, annuitization, and other forms of de-risking; funding improvement or rehabilitation plans for multiemployer plans; employer securities issues; withdrawal from multiemployer pension plans including withdrawal liability; claims resulting from plan termination or withdrawal; settlor versus fiduciary functions and conflicts of interest; executive compensation and nonqualified retirement plans; modification or termination of defined contribution plans; modification or termination of health and other welfare plans; negotiation of labor agreements or managing employee relations; retirement benefits in personal bankruptcies; and, investigations or claims by the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, or the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Experience of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice group members includes: representing a Chapter 7 trustee as special employee benefits counsel; representing retirees association in connection with benefits under non-qualified plans in a Chapter 11 case; leading PBGC’s investigations, negotiation, and litigation in widely reported Chapter 11 cases; negotiating PBGC’s pre-Chapter 11 bankruptcy settlements; consulting with debtors on bankruptcy planning; writing appellate briefs on novel bankruptcy issues, including amicus briefs before the Supreme Court; representing Chapter 11 debtors on treatment of all types of employee benefits; representing creditors and creditor committees in Chapter 11 proceedings; representing debtors or Chapter 7 trustees in terminating underfunded defined benefit plans and resolving liability to the PBGC; supporting Chapter 7 trustees in their mandated role as the plan administrator under the Bankruptcy Code to abandoned retirement and benefit plans; representing lenders on Chapter 11 extensions of credit including DIP financings; representing debtors on administrative issues such as final plan audits, participant distributions, and blackout periods; and, representing debtors on restructuring of debt in connection with PBGC settlements.
The Wagner Law Group
The Wagner Law Group is a nationally recognized practice in the areas of ERISA, employee benefits and executive compensation, labor, employment and human resources, investment management, HIPAA, privacy and security, litigation, tax-exempt organizations, trusts and estates and family law.
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