Robert Newman

Robert Newman is a partner in the firm’s employee benefits practice group. He represents clients ranging from small employers to some of the nation's largest employers, including for-profit and tax-exempt entities. His practice includes: 

• designing, drafting, and amending a wide range of retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, ESOPs, and traditional and hybrid defined benefit plans) and welfare plans (including health, severance, and cafeteria plans);
• representing clients before the IRS and the Department of Labor;
• advocating on behalf of clients before Congress;
• providing benefits expertise in corporate transactions and ERISA litigation;
• creating executive compensation arrangements including nonqualified deferred compensation plans, stock option plans, and other incentive plans; and
• negotiating and writing employment agreements. 

Representative Matters

• Designing and drafting a pension plan document converting a client’s traditional defined benefit plan to a cash balance pension plan. 
• Developing guidelines for the administration of a client’s nonqualified deferred compensation plans during the good faith compliance period under section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. 
• Providing benefits advice to a client in a corporate transaction purchasing assets in excess of $800 million.

Honors and Rankings

• Legal 500 US (2007-2008)

Publications and Speeches

• "California Eases Restrictions on Stock Plans For Privately-Held Companies," Covington Advisory (8/6/2007), Co-Author
• "IRS Changes Scope of "Covered Employees" Under Section 162(m)," (6/8/2007), Co-Author
• "Age Discrimination in Cash Balance Plans: Another View," 19 Va. Tax. Rev. 763 (Spring 2000), Co-Author