Two Partners Honored as Fellows of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
CHICAGO (August 15, 2005) — McDermott Will & Emery partners, Charles K. "Chip" Kerby, III, and Nancy G. Ross are among the 20 new Fellows selected by the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (ACEBC) to be honored as new Fellows, joining 267 current ACEBC Fellows. Each ACEBC nominee is required to have engaged in employee benefits law for at least 20 years and have demonstrated a sustained commitment to the development and pursuit of public awareness and understanding of benefits law. Nominees are also required to have provided exceptionally high-quality professional services to clients, the bar and the public. As a result, selection as a Fellow is a high honor reflecting substantive contributions to the field of employee benefits.
Mr. Kerby, based in McDermott's Washington, D.C. office, has more than 25 years of experience with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and other federal and state laws affecting the design and administration of employer-sponsored benefit plans, and advises on issues affecting health and welfare plans. His experience includes serving as an assistant branch chief and attorney-advisor in the Chief Counsel's office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Over the past several years, Mr. Kerby has focused his practice on several key issues, including tax and ERISA issues associated with consumer-driven health plans, retiree health plan design and funding alternatives, compliance issues for ERISA health and welfare benefit plans, the erosion of ERISA preemption and potential health plan liability, and federal and state initiatives to reform the nation's health care system. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center teaching the LLM tax course on ERISA Health and Welfare Benefit Plans. He is a member of the National Health Lawyers Association and the Employee Benefits Committee of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association (ABA).
Ms. Ross, based in McDermott's Chicago office, practices primarily in the area of employee benefits class action litigation and counseling under ERISA. She has extensive experience in counseling and representing employers, plan fiduciaries and trustees in matters concerning pension and welfare benefit plans. Her experience includes representation of pension plans, ESOPs, trustees and employers concerning their administration of plan assets and fiduciary responsibilities. Ms. Ross frequently represents directors and officers who are named as defendants in ERISA litigation over 401(k) plans and other employee benefit plans. In the 2005 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Ms. Ross was recognized as a leader in the area of employee benefits litigation. She is co-chair of the Fiduciary Responsibility Committee of the ABA Employee Benefits Committee in the ABA’s Labor and Employment Section. As a faculty member for the ABA National Institute, Ms. Ross frequently speaks at seminars nationwide on employment and employee benefits issues. She is a contributing editor to the Employee Benefits Law Treatise, published by the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section and is a member of the editorial board for The Benefits Law Journal.
The ACEBC, organized in 2000, was formed in recognition of significant legal and social policy issues impacting the regulation and management of pension, retirement, group health, welfare and disability plans. The College encourages the study and development of employee benefits laws and is engaging in projects such as working with the IRS on training programs for IRS agents, initiating professional discussions and high level symposiums on employee benefits issues, co-sponsoring continuing legal education programs and recognizing the achievements of distinguished employee benefits attorneys.
