Covington & Burling LLP | Biographies

Robert Newman is a partner in the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation 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);
creating executive compensation arrangements including nonqualified deferred compensation plans, stock option plans, and other incentive plans;
representing clients before the IRS and the Department of Labor;
assisting clients with legislative initiatives;
providing benefits expertise in corporate transactions and ERISA litigation;
counseling clients with respect to pension fund investments in private equity funds and hedge funds; and
negotiating and writing employment agreements.

Representative Matters

Testified at hearing before the ERISA Advisory Council on “Private Sector Pension De-risking and Participant Protections."
Served as ERISA counsel to Verizon Communications Inc. on its transfer of $7.5 billion in pension liabilities to The Prudential Insurance Company of America.
Designing and drafting a pension plan document converting a client’s traditional defined benefit plan to a cash balance pension plan.
Testifying before the IRS on behalf of the ERISA Industry Committee on proposed anti-backloading regulations.
Drafting comprehensive amendments to nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements for two of the nation’s largest employers to comply with section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.

Honors and Rankings

Legal 500 US, Labor & Employment - ERISA Litigation and Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (2013)
Washington DC Super Lawyer, Employee Benefits/ERISA (2013)
Recipient of the 2012 "Burton Award for Legal Achievement."