Kevin P. O’Brien is a partner in the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice. His practice has concentrated in employee compensation and benefits for over 30 years. Kevin is widely known as a leader in a wide variety of subjects, including innovative defined benefit plan design, flexible benefits, ERISA fiduciary matters and executive compensation.

Before joining the firm, Kevin worked in the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration at the Labor Department soon after ERISA was enacted. Kevin represents corporate clients before the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, the Labor Department, the Pension Benefits Guaranty Association, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Congress on a variety of employee benefit issues. He was one of the founders of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) and served as an officer of ECFC for many years.

• Advised multiple clients on the design of retirement programs involving one-time choices between participation in a defined benefit or a defined contribution plan.
• Worked on a variety of matters involving the closing out of defined benefit plans. This has included the representation of plan fiduciaries in conducting plan close-out annuity purchases.
• For a large foreign corporation, resolved the tax and ERISA hurdles to funding its U.S.-based pension plan with company stock.
• Worked on numerous employment agreements involving senior executive employment agreements. This included negotiating and drafting an employment agreement for the U.S.-based Chief Investment Officer hired to manage a foreign multi-billion dollar endowment, as well as the crafting of numerous separation agreements for departing executives.
• Advised numerous clients on the employee benefits and tax aspects of corporate spinoffs and joint ventures.
• Has participated as a cash balance plan expert on behalf of numerous corporations and groups. For example, submitted the amicus brief on behalf of The American Benefits Council in Hirt v. Equitable Retirement Plan, and was retained to submit comments to the IRS and Treasury concerning their cash balance regulations on behalf of several Fortune 100 corporations.