At the end of 2022, I retired as a senior counsel with Steptoe & Johnson LLP and embarked on a new venture: making available to other lawyers the intellectual capital regarding ERISA, employee benefits and executive compensation that I’ve accumulated over nearly 50 years of professional practice.

ERISA Cavalry PLLC (www.ERISACavlary.com) will answer questions about the ERISA and tax laws governing retirement plans and deferred compensation, review plan-related documents, vet litigation theories, examine the employee benefits aspects of mergers and acquisitions, provide guidance on how to establish, operate and terminate pension, profit sharing, 401(k), 403(b), ESOP and other plans, and otherwise serve as a resource for law firms that don’t have in-house ERISA and employee benefits practices.

ERISA Cavalry won’t (except perhaps in unusual circumstances) serve individual, non-lawyer clients or represent parties in litigation. The firm’s intended role is as an ancillary to, rather than a competitor with, other members of the legal profession.

My practice of employee benefits law began in 1975, not long after the advent of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”, which wags say stands for “Every Ridiculous Idea Since Adam”). After working for major law firms in New York and Chicago, I took a position with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation as director of the Corporate Policy and Regulations Department.

My next stop after the PBGC was Touche Ross & Co., a predecessor to what is now the “Big Four” Deloitte accounting and consulting firm, where I was a director in the employee benefits practice of Deloitte Tax’s national office in Washington, D.C. In 2009, I retired from Deloitte and joined Steptoe & Johnson.

In addition to work for clients, I have written extensively on ERISA and the related provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Of particular note are Matthew Bender’s Employee Benefits Guide and the 30 chapters that I have contributed to the online treatise Lexis Tax Advisor – Federal Topical.

I now live and work in Washington State, just outside Tacoma but, thanks to the marvels of modern technology, can serve clients anywhere in the world. The quickest way to reach me is via email: TomVeal@ERISACavalry.com.