Profile
Ian A. Herbert focuses his practice on all areas of employee benefits law. He has counseled clients on all aspects of the establishment and administration of pension and profit sharing plans, ESOPs, non-qualified deferred and executive compensation programs, equity and similar compensation plans, welfare benefit plans, cafeteria plans and VEBAs. In addition, he has wide-ranging experience in performing compliance reviews of qualified plan operations and assisting clients in correcting qualification and other compliance defects.
Concentrations
- Employee benefits
- Executive compensation
- ERISA
- Retirement Plans
- Incentive Compensation Arrangements
- Health & Welfare Benefit Plans
- Tax
Capabilities
Experience
- Part of a team that represented an affiliate of The Carlyle Group in connection with the acquisition of Involta, LLC, a leading regional U.S. data center and hybrid infrastructure company.
- Represented Sev1Tech, LLC, a technology company providing information technology, cybersecurity, cloud, and program management services and solutions to U.S. government, in the sale of a controlling interest to DFW Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm focused on lower middle-market companies.
- Has assisted numerous clients in obtaining relief from potentially disqualifying defects in the operation of their tax-qualified retirement plans through the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System.
- Following a series of corporate acquisitions, Ian assisted a major client with the merger of several defined benefit pension plans, thereby achieving significant administrative cost savings and improved funding of the plans.
- Has counseled a significant client on the termination of its long-standing retiree medical benefits plan and the preparation of the communication of this benefit reduction to affected participants.
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2013-2024
- Listed, The Legal 500 United States
- Labor and Employment - Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, and Retirement Plans - Design, 2019 and 2023
- Labor and Employment - Employee Health and Retirement Plans, 2017
- Labor and Employment - Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, 2014
- Executive Co-Chair, Human Resources Leadership Awards of Greater Washington, 2011 to 2014
- Member, American Bar Association, 1988 to present
- Member, Employee Benefit Committee, Tax and Business Sections, 1988 to present
- Member, District of Columbia Bar Association, 1994 to present
- Member, Tax Section, 1994 to present
Credentials
Education
- J.D., University of Illinois College of Law
- M.B.A., Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania
- A.B., Washington University in St. Louis
Admissions
- District of Columbia
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Admitted in the District of Columbia. Not admitted in Virginia. Practice limited to federal tax and ERISA practice.