Arent Fox's transactional ERISA lawyers regularly advise clients on benefit issues related to ERISA and other statutes that regulate Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), 401(k) plans, defined benefit pension plans, health and welfare plans (including COBRA and HIPAA), executive deferred compensation programs (Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code), severance programs and fringe benefit plans. We design and draft all types of employee benefit plans, and advise both for-profit and nonprofit clients on compliance rules. We also develop practical solutions for fixing broken plans, particularly when a client has been sold an “off-the-shelf” program that does not meet its business objectives, and we have been very successful in negotiating practical solutions with the IRS when employers have discovered operational problems with their benefit plans. We have extensive knowledge of the Internal Revenue Code, applicable US Department of Labor regulations and all other laws relating to employee benefits. We normally handle pension and welfare benefit plan matters on behalf of employers, plan fiduciaries, and sometimes the plans themselves. Arent Fox serves as outside counsel to sponsors of many large and small multiemployer, multiple employer and single-employer plans. We also serve as plan counsel to a number of pension and health plans, some of them governmental plans.