Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Seyfarth Shaw LLP

IRS Issues Final Regulations on Exempt Organization and 401(k) Non-Discrimination Testing
On July 21, 2006, the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations permitting, in certain instances, employees of taxexempt organizations described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, to be excluded for the purposes of testing whether a Section 401(k) plan meets the minimum coverage requirements of Section 410(b).

08-04-2006

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Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act Revisited: Proposed Regulations Help Fill in the Gaps
At the end of June, the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy released three proposed regulations clarifying certain obligations that the new Massachusetts health care reform act (the Act) imposes on employers doing business in Massachusetts, as reported in the Seyfarth Shaw May 2006 Management Alert.

08-04-2006

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Bullivant Houser Bailey

Senate Passes Pension Protection Act: How the New Pension and 401(k) Plan Rules Will Impact Employer Sponsored Plans
In a somewhat shocking and swift move, the United States Senate passed without revision or amendment, HR 4, the United States House of Representatives Pension Protection Act (“Act”) sending the bill to President Bush for signature, which could occur shortly. The Act provides sweeping revisions to Defined Benefit Pension Plans, provides relief and certainty for cash balance plans and allows for some helpful plan design options in the 401(k) marketplace. Generally, the Act will be effective as of January 1, 2008, but certain rules may impact plans as early as 2007, with formal documents amendments required no later than 2009.

Defined Contribution Plan Sponsor Action Steps

Plan sponsors should take the following steps over the next plan year:

* Consider the addition of Roth 401(k) options as the Act provides permanency to this and other EGTRRA provisions;
* Evaluate using automatic enrollment in your 401(k) plan based on the Act’s safe harbor and be aware of collateral impact on excess contributions providing 6 month return time without excise tax;
* Review expanded rules for combined DB/K plans using a traditional defined benefit formula or a cash balance formula providing planning opportunities for companies with less than 500 employees;
* Required employee voluntary diversification for public company employer stock;
* Revise plan documents for EGTRRA permanency, QJSA options; direct rollovers to Roth IRAs, non-spouse rollovers to IRA, accelerated vesting provisions; and
* Update QDRO procedures, benefit statement disclosure procedures, and bonding if plan contains employer securities.

Cash Balance Plan Sponsor Action Steps

The Act contains only a few, but critical, provisions relating to cash balance plans:

* Sponsors considering converting or starting a cash balance plan receive certain that plan is not age discriminatory, provided plan meets certain standards, receive wearaway standards and whipsaw relief;
* Sponsors with existing cash balance plans receive no certainty from this bill, however any existing plan should strive to meet the standards contained in this bill for future years;

Defined Benefit Plan Sponsor Action Steps

The Act contains numerous provisions relating to defined benefit plans requiring a comprehensive review of any defined benefit arrangement:

* Understand increased PBGC premiums;
* Revise documents and procedures based on revised contributions standards allowing for 150% of applicable funding target plus target normal cost plus future benefit increase amount less assets;
* Revise minimum funding rules and review impact on funding requirements and targets including interest rate assumptions; PFEA relief extended through 2007;
* If a Plan is less than 80% funded, it will be deemed “at-risk” requiring additional actuarial assumptions and potentially increased funding from the sponsor, plans with less than 500 participants are exempt;
* Nonqualified deferred compensation plan contributions subject to excise tax if sponsor maintains a plan in at-risk status;
* Allows transfer of surplus defined benefit plan assets to fund retiree benefits;
* Revise lump-sum distribution rules based on new legislation standards; and
* Prepare for increase disclosure requirements of plan’s funding status.

Investment Advice

The Act contains several miscellaneous provisions important to all plan sponsors. The Act allows the plan’s investment platform provider to advise plan sponsors and participants as to particular investment decisions as long as the arrangement meets the requirements of the Act including fee disclosure, fees not varying on the basis on which investment option is chosen, and independent fiduciary approval. Plan sponsors should evaluate any investment provider’s potential advice based on these factors to ensure the provider is meeting the Act’s prohibited transaction exemption.

What’s Next for Plan Sponsors?

We expect the President to sign the bill soon and the bill to become effective as of January 1, 2008. However, because of certain provisions that impact plans in 2007, as well as the planning opportunities available to plan sponsors sooner than 2008, we encourage plan sponsors to begin evaluating the Act’s new provisions at the next regularly scheduled Trustee or Committee meeting.

Please do not hesitate to contact Jeff Robertson at 503-499-4686 or Jeffrey.Robertson@bullivant.com or any Bullivant lawyer if you have any questions about how the new legislation may impact your company’s current retirement plans.

08-04-2006

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Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLP

Vorys Named A Go-To Law Firm by Top U.S. Companies
In a survey of the top companies in the country, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP has been recognized by American Lawyer Media as a ""Go-To Law Firm"" for 2005.

Vorys was chosen based on testimony from existing clients including Limited Brands Inc., American Standard Companies Inc. and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Vorys was one of a select few firms to be named in multiple categories. The firm was acknowledged for work in corporate governance, corporate transactions, labor and employment and litigation.

American Lawyer Media (ALM), publisher of The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel and The National Law Journal, annually surveys general counsel at Fortune 500 companies to determine which law firms they turn to first to handle their legal affairs.

The survey asked each company to identify its primary outside law firms in six practice areas: corporate transactions, corporate governance, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation and European Union law.

“This recognition is a wonderful demonstration of what we believe a successful attorney-client relationship requires,” said Robert W. Werth, Managing Partner of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. “Our attorneys are true professionals, who genuinely care about the delivery of services to our clients and the value of deep professional relationships.

08-04-2006

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Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLP

Vorys Recognized as an Industry Cross-Practice Powerhouse
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP has been named a “Cross-Practice Powerhouse” by the BTI Power Rankings: The BTI Client Relationship Scorecard for Law Firms 2006. Vorys is one of only two firms based in Ohio, and one of 25 nationwide, to receive this prestigious recognition.

The BTI Client Relationship Scorecard delineates how clients see their law firms across six critical dimensions that define client relationships. BTI’s research with more than 100 law firms reveals that just 10.5% of firms believe they are effectively cross-selling services to their top clients. For this reason, BTI recognized a select group of law firms in the country for their success in delivering multiple services to key clients.

In addition, Vorys is recognized among the leading firms in which clients rely, based on four defining practice areas: Corporate, Litigation, Mergers and Acquisitions and Securities and Finance. Vorys is also acknowledged for its expertise in the Industrial Manufacturing and Retail industries.

“It is exciting for the firm to be recognized for our efforts in providing a wide scope of expertise to our clients,” Managing Partner Robert W. Werth, said. “We represent clients in transactions involving virtually every legal subject and work extremely hard to ensure they are exposed to the vast diversity of our attorneys and services.”

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP has offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, as well as in Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va. With nearly 400 attorneys, Vorys is one of the largest law firms in the United States. For more information about the firm, visit www.vssp.com.

08-04-2006

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Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

Gary Brown Provides Testimony for U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Gary M. Brown, chair of the Corporate Department of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, a major law firm with offices in twelve cities including Nashville and Washington, D.C., appeared this week before the United States Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), chaired by Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), to provide testimony on how offshore tax havens and tax shelters are used to circumvent compliance with U.S. securities laws. PSI's hearing, which received widespread coverage in the national media, was entitled ""Offshore Abuses: The Enablers, the Tools and Offshore Secrecy,"" and was the latest in a series of reports and hearings by PSI focusing on the use of offshore trusts and corporations to circumvent U.S. tax, securities and anti-money laundering laws.

Other witnesses at this week's hearing included the Honorable Mark Everson, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, and Robert Wood Johnson IV, heir to the Johnson and Johnson fortune.

Mr. Brown had provided technical advice to the PSI staff on securities related issues and was asked to appear during the Committee's hearings because of his experience in U.S. federal securities laws. He is the author of the Practising Law Institute's treatise Soderquist on the Securities Laws (formerly Understanding the Securities Laws). Since 1994, Brown has taught corporate and securities law at the Vanderbilt University School of Law and has been a frequent instructor at securities programs for the Practising Law Institute. He also frequently speaks and writes on areas including corporate governance, ethics and the reporting and disclosure obligations of public companies. Since 1994, Mr. Brown has been listed in Best Lawyers in America. He also currently serves as general counsel to the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association, the world's largest organization of ethics and compliance professionals, and is a member of Law and Ethics Advisory Group for Midi, a leading provider of ethics and compliance learning solutions to Fortune 1000 and mid-sized companies.

PSI is a subcommittee of the United States Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. During 2002, Mr. Brown served as Special Counsel (Minority) to that committee in its investigation into the collapse of Enron Corp. During that time he also provided advice on aspects of what became the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 while the Senate debated the legislation.

08-04-2006

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

Weil Gotshal Victory for Human Rights Watch in Sierra Leone Tribunal
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the international law firm, submitted an amicus curiae brief on behalf of pro bono client Human Rights Watch in December 2005 in a war crimes trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

In a reserved decision, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court has reversed the earlier decision of the Trial Chamber below and adopted the position advocated by Weil Gotshal in its brief supporting a human rights monitor who had refused to disclose his sources for fear of reprisals against his sources or their families.

In his concurring Opinion, Geoffrey Robertson QC also ruled in Weil Gotshal's favor on a novel point of international criminal law and found that, in the appropriate circumstances, human rights monitors have a privilege to refuse to name their sources when giving evidence. This represents a valuable safeguard for those investigating and reporting on atrocities, including crimes against humanity in other places, in addition to in Sierra Leone.

The brief was generated in our London office but was the product of a joint London and New York team that worked closely with staff in the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch. The London team consisted of partners Michael Jones and Dominic McCahill assisted by Jamie Maples, Lianne Craig, Justin Michaelson, Blandine Davies, Christy Farr, Dan Martin and Sarah Chase. The New York team consisted of partner Rick Levine and associates Michael Firestone, Sarah Spatz, and Caryn Lederer.

Few firms place greater emphasis on pro bono work than Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Our award-winning program is incredibly varied and upholds the highest standards of public service by the legal community.

About Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international law firm of over 1,200 lawyers, including 300 partners. Weil, Gotshal is headquartered in New York, with 20 offices in Austin, Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Dallas, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Miami, Munich, New York, Paris, Prague, Providence, Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Warsaw, Washington DC and Wilmington.

08-04-2006

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