Morgan Lewis Launches Client-Support Program with Senior Benefit Advisors

NEW YORK, December 17, 2020: Being one of the few large law firms to have a dedicated, full-service employee benefits and executive compensation practice, Morgan Lewis understands the ebb and flow of work in this area and the undue pressure it can cause for clients. To that end, the firm is formalizing a secondment and assignment program, ML BeneHelp where the firm’s senior benefit advisors (SBAs) temporarily serve in-house when clients are confronted with an onslaught of benefits-related needs.

The scope of the program is broad, drawing on the skills of the career benefits professionals—many of whom have decades of experience working as consultants, actuaries, and/or lawyers—to assist clients who need short-term benefits help during times of peak demand. This can include: 

• Integrating benefit plans following an acquisition.
• Navigating open-enrollment or annual reporting season.
• Rolling out a new plan or recordkeeping arrangement.
• Conducting RFPs.
• Responding to government investigations.
• Implementing a reduction-in-force or voluntary severance program.
• Revising plan documents to comply with updated laws or to reflect plan design changes.
• Covering temporary leaves of in-house professionals.

“Seconding or assigning our talented professionals to clients in their time of need is a hallmark of the firm’s commitment to exceptional client service,” said Morgan Lewis partner Craig Bitman, who heads the firm’s employee benefits practice. “Our ML BeneHelp program can assist clients facing a challenging time period—such as open enrollment or changes from government agencies—navigate the extra load during those crunch times at predictable and competitive rates.”

With approximately 75 lawyers and other benefits professionals, Morgan Lewis has one of the largest and most comprehensive employee benefits and executive compensation law firm practices, bolstered by the firm’s SBAs— nonlawyer, seasoned professionals—who help the practice deliver cost-efficient, high-quality service to clients with sophisticated benefits plans and needs. The practice assists clients in finding creative solutions to their employee benefit–related business challenges by working closely with colleagues in other practices to render services on a nationwide and global basis. Clients benefit from the strategic insight of US government agency alumni, including former Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, and Securities and Exchange Commission personnel involved in employee benefit plans and related regulation and enforcement while with the federal government.