With respect to ERISA, Erin focuses on employee benefits, including qualified, nonqualified, and executive and deferred compensation and welfare benefit plans, as well as regulatory compliance with the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Affordable Care Act. She also advises employers on the design, implementation, and administration of tax-qualified and nonqualified retirement plans and health and welfare benefit plans.

Erin regularly represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the US Department of Labor (DOL) in audit and correction matters and has successfully concluded more than five large case audits by the IRS for both publicly traded and privately held plan sponsors auditing their health and welfare plan compliance. She is experienced in working with employers, vendors, and health plans to design and implement a variety of health and welfare plan structures, including medical, prescription drug, wellness programs, disability, mental health benefits, cafeteria plans, health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts, and consumer-directed health plans. She also has experience in other welfare benefit programs, including commuter benefit plans and paid time off banks. She also advises employers on issues raised in connection with corporate mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures as they relate to the various benefit plans maintained by the affected corporate entity or entities.

Erin focuses her ESOP practice on the design and implementation of ESOP transactions and provides ongoing legal counsel to ESOP-owned companies. She has been involved in hundreds of transactions, including leveraged buyouts, mergers, acquisitions, and the structuring and financing of ESOPs using private equity. Erin also has extensive experience representing lenders in designing and negotiating credit facilities specifically tailored to the needs of ESOP-owned companies.

Erin writes and speaks regularly on ERISA and ESOP issues.

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• Advised a Fortune 500 company in the design and implementation of death benefit-only plan, including filing with the DOL for a private letter ruling for the transfer of an underlying life insurance policy from a qualified retirement plan to a newly established death benefit-only plan
• Advised a Fortune 500 global manufacturing company on employee benefit matters related to its initial entry into US operations and the negotiation of all aspects of employee benefits, including Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs) and union-governed health and welfare benefit plans
• Assisted a large regional health system in redesigning its health and welfare benefits offerings and negotiated all related vendor contracts and HIPAA business associate agreements

ESOP RESULTS

• Advises a $1 billion 81-100 group trust comprising more than 240 401(k) plans on all matters of ERISA, Internal Revenue Code, and securities law compliance
• Advised a global manufacturing company on employee benefit matters related to its initial entry into US operations, the spin-off of the seller’s employee benefit plans, and the merger of six separate plans onto a single platform, including handling union issues and multiemployer plan liability and withdrawal
• Advised a privately held, multigenerational national manufacturing company on the sale by over 50 shareholders to an ESOP
• Advised an ESOP-owned $100 million company on the sale to a private equity fund

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• American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (ACEBC), fellow
• Super Lawyers (ERISA)
• D Magazine, Best Lawyers in Dallas, 2012, 2014, 2016 – 2022

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