Moderator:  Charles F. Seemann III, Jackson Lewis LLP
Charles F. Seemann III is a partner in the New Orleans office of Jackson Lewis LLP. His practice emphasizes the defense of ERISA litigation and regulatory investigations, but encompasses a variety of other benefits and employment-related matters as well. Mr. Seemann’s practice includes the defense of ERISA plans and plan fiduciaries at both public and private companies, multi-employer plans and plan fiduciaries, and financial institutions providing services to ERISA plans. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2007, in Chambers USA since 2012, and in Louisiana Super Lawyers since 2010. In 2012, Charles was appointed to the Bloomberg BNA Pension & Benefits Advisory Board.

Mr. Seemann earned a J.D. from Louisiana State University, where he served as Articles Editor for the Louisiana Law Review, and a B.A. from Emory University. He is a member of the Bars of Texas and Louisiana and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Amy R. Covert, Proskauer Rose LLP
Amy Covert is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department at Proskauer Rose’s New York office. She has extensive experience with complex employee benefits litigation, including class actions and individual claims relating to ERISA fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction provisions; anti-cutback violations; cessation of benefit accruals; age discrimination; denials of claims for benefits; severance plans; executive and equity compensation; ERISA Section 510 retaliation claims; ERISA preemption of state law claims; plan investment losses; retiree medical benefits; plan interpretation; and plan amendments and terminations. Ms. Covert also has acted on the plaintiff’s side in delinquent contribution claims brought by the plan against employer contributors to multiemployer plans.

Ms. Covert earned a J.D. from George Washington University National Law Center and a B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Arizona. She is a member of Bars of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ronald G. Dean, Law Office of Ron Dean
Ronald Dean has been engaged in employee benefits litigation primarily on behalf of participants for over 40 years. He is currently a member of the Board of Senior Editors of the ABA/BNA text, Employee Benefits Law, and is on the Advisory Board for ALI-ABA’s Employee Benefits Programs. He is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, for which he was a member of the Board of Directors from 2001 to 2007. Mr. Dean was named by the National Law Journal as one of the top forty benefits lawyers in the country and is listed in Southern California Super Lawyers. He was trial and appellate counsel in 15 published Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinions involving ERISA issues.

Mr. Dean earned a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin and a B.A. from Antioch College. His practice is based in California.

Karen L. Handorf, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
Karen Handorf is a partner with Cohen Milstein, where she represents plan participants in district court and appellate litigation involving a broad range of issues including retiree healthcare, ESOPs, employer stock, and the termination of benefits. Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Ms. Handorf served as counsel in the Plan Benefits Security Division (PBSD), Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor. In this role, Ms. Handorf was responsible for establishing and supervising the Department’s amicus brief writing program which addressed a wide range of novel and difficult ERISA issues in both state and federal court. She was also responsible for supervising the Department’s ERISA appellate litigation, district court litigation brought by regional offices of the Solicitor of Labor and administrative litigation involving the civil penalty provisions of ERISA. In 2001, Ms. Handorf was appointed Deputy Associate Solicitor of PBSD and was responsible for overseeing litigation brought by the Secretary of Labor and legal advice provided to the Employee Benefit Security Administration. In 2005, she returned to her position as supervisor of the ERISA appellate and amicus brief writing program, serving as Counsel for Appellate and Special Litigation. Ms. Handorf is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, serves as plaintiffs’ co-chair of the civil procedure subcommittee of the Employees Benefits Committee of the ABA’s Labor Section and is a frequent speaker on ERISA.

Ms. Handorf earned a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin—River Falls. She is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.