Speakers
Amy R. Covert, Proskauer Rose LLP; Ronald G. Dean, Ronald Dean, A Law Corporation; Karen L. Handorf, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC; Charles F. Seemann, III, Proskauer Rose LLP
Amy R. Covert
Partner, Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation & ERISA Litigation
Class/Collective Action
Proskauer Rose LLP
Newark, NJ
Amy Covert is a Partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department. 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. Amy also has acted on the plaintiff's side in delinquent contribution claims brought by the plan against employer contributors to multiemployer plans.
Ronald G. Dean
Sole Practitioner
Ronald Dean, A Law Corporation
Pacific Palisades, CA
Ronald G. Dean is a sole practitioner and has been engaged in employee benefits litigation primarily on behalf of participants for over 30 years. He is a Senior Editor of the ABA/BNA text, Employee Benefits Law. He is also on the Advisory Board of BNA's Pension and Benefits Reporter. He was a Co-Chair of the ABA Labor Section's Employee Benefits Committee, a Co-Chair of the CLE/Meeting and Institutes Committee of the ABA's Labor and Employment Law Section, and was the liaison from the ABA Section Officers Council to the ABA's CLE Committee. He was trial and appellate counsel in 15 published Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinions involving ERISA issues.
Karen L. Handorf
Of Counsel
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
Washington, DC
Karen Handorf joined Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC in 2007 as Of Counsel and is a member of the Employee Benefits (ERISA) practice group.
Ms. Handorf received her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1975, where she received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award, the Mathys Memorial Award for Appellate Advocacy, and First Place, Milwaukee Bar Association Moot Court Prize. Prior to law school, she attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where she received a B.S. in Speech and History.
Ms. Handorf is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
Charles F. Seemann, III
Senior Counsel, Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation & ERISA Litigation
Employment Litigation & Arbitration
Proskauer Rose LLP
New Orleans, LA
Charles Seemann's practice emphasizes ERISA and employee benefits law, labor and employment law, and commercial litigation. His 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. In addition to ERISA matters, Charles has substantial experience in EEO and employment litigation, intellectual property and trade secret matters, securities fraud, and general commercial matters.
Charles has participated in the resolution of complex and class action matters in a number of jurisdictions, including New York, California, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, Indiana, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana.