Brian L. Gaj

Practices

• Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
• ERISA Litigation

Professional Experience

Brian is counsel in the firm's Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group. He focuses his practice on all aspects of employee benefits and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), including defined benefit plans and welfare plans, 401(k) plans, and fiduciary duties. Brian is admitted to practice in Michigan and Ohio.

Following law school, Brian worked as a law clerk to the Honorable Albert J. Engel, U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Following his clerkship, Brian started his career with the firm, worked in-house at a corporation, and then returned to the firm in 1994.

Education

• Cornell University Law School, J.D., 1984, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
• Case Western Reserve University, B.A., 1981, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

• Counseling clients on ERISA fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction provisions, including employer stock contributions to defined benefit plans and to pension investments in hedge funds.
• Conducting employee benefits due diligence efforts for corporate acquisitions and divestitures, including analysis of defined benefit plan reportable events and liability for defined benefit plan underfunding.
• Drafting pension plan documents, summary plan descriptions (SPDs), and plan procedures, including for cash balances and other hybrid plans.
• Preparing regulatory submissions including IRS determination letter filings, private letter ruling requests, and DOL advisory opinion letter requests.
• Developing voluntary correction and settlement agreements with governmental agencies.
• Handling appeals of multiemployer withdrawal liability assessments.