ERISA Hot Topics

David Levine is co-chair of the firm’s employer-focused practice. He advises plan sponsors, advisors, and other service providers on a wide range of employee benefits matters, from retirement and executive compensation to health and welfare plan matters.

David advises on the design and redesign of complex retirement, executive, and health and welfare plans; ongoing, day-to-day counseling of plan sponsors; in-depth compliance reviews of corporate and governmental benefit programs; products and compliance for retirement and health service providers, and representation of tax-exempt organizations with respect to issues involving corporate governance, executive compensation, and unrelated business income tax liability.

David was previously the Chair of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (2011-2013) and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association and serves in a number of leadership roles in the American Bar Association Tax Section’s Employee Benefits Committee. Mr. Levine regularly speaks on plan design, fiduciary governance, and legislative issues and contributes a recurring column to NAPA Net — The Magazine. He is recognized in the Chambers USA guide for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation.

Mark Boyko practices primarily in the area of complex fiduciary breach and prohibited transaction litigation, representing clients in actions brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). He has secured judgments and settlements in this area exceeding $350 million and handled successful appeals in federal circuit courts as well as the US Supreme Court.

Mark is a pioneer in ERISA class action litigation, representing workers and retirees in many of the earliest cases in his field. In these matters, Mark represents 401(k) plan participants alleging breach of fiduciary duties in order to hold employers and Wall Street accountable for the plans’ investments and fees.

His practice also includes numerous private company ESOP cases in which he represents workers claiming that fiduciary trustees caused their employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to overpay corporate insiders for private company stock. Additionally, Mark represents pension plan participants in cases alleging that plans using decades-old mortality tables have unfairly reduced monthly benefits for married retirees.

Mark also provides legal and strategic services to founders, startups, and small businesses from pre-conception through Series-A funding.

Clarissa advocates zealously and effectively for employee benefit plans, plan administrators, plan sponsors, and other fiduciaries before federal and state courts and government regulatory agencies.

As a director in our nationally recognized ERISA litigation group (First Tier Nationally in US News and World Report Best Lawyers), she has handled a broad spectrum of litigation, including cases involving benefit claims, fiduciary issues, plan administration, multiemployer plans, withdrawal liability, delinquent contributions, plan reimbursement and subrogation, non-ERISA benefit plans (such as governmental plans and church plans), and class actions. In addition to serving as an advocate in active litigation, Clarissa advises and represents retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and plan fiduciaries in investigations and agency actions commenced by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Taking a practical and thoughtful approach, Clarissa provides advice and support to plan fiduciaries in their determination of benefit claims and appeals. With an eye for detail, she negotiates investment management and service provider agreements on behalf of plans and their fiduciaries.

Clarissa is a frequent presenter on ERISA litigation, plan administration, benefit claims administration, and fiduciary responsibility. Clarissa has authored several articles, including articles on judicial review of benefit claims, remedies after CIGNA Corp. v. Amara, and arbitration provisions in plans.

Clarissa is admitted to practice before the state and federal district courts of California (Northern, Central, Eastern, Southern), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the state and federal district courts of Hawaii.

She has been listed as a Northern California “Super Lawyer” in the area of employee benefits law since 2014 and received the Minority Bar Coalition 2015 Unity Award for promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Clarissa has also been selected by her peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers® in America since 2020 in the practice area of ERISA Litigation.