Harvey M. Katz serves as co-chair of the firm’s Employee Benefits & Compensation Department. His practice focuses on all aspects of pension, executive compensation and employee benefits law.
During his 38-year legal career, Harvey’s practice has included an extremely broad array of sophisticated employee benefits issues for public and private companies, including :
- representation of a prominent worldwide media organization with responsibility for compliance for all of its U.S. benefits compliance and restructuring its worldwide benefit structure to integrate its U.S. benefit structure with benefit programs available to executives in the U.K. and Australia
- representation of a major banking institution based in Ireland with respect to its U.S. workforce, including a major restructuring of its U.S. benefit and executive compensation programs following a large divestiture and extensive integration of benefits for expatriates
- representation of the trustee the Employee Stock Ownership Plan of a U.S. Airline in the process of major restructuring and emergence from chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings
- representation of a prominent Boston-based hospital in connection with structuring and negotiating its executive benefits packages and compliance with associated “intermediate sanctions” requirements for tax-exempt organizations under the Internal Revenue Code
- representation of the equity committee in bankruptcy of a major silverware manufacturer in connection with a dispute regarding the liability to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in the context of chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings
Knowledgeable about health care reform, Harvey frequently helps clients sort through myriad issues and changes stemming from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
Prior to joining the firm, Harvey was the senior employee-benefits partner in the corporate department of Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP in New York. Harvey frequently lectures professional groups including the American Society of Pension Actuaries, the Enrolled Actuaries Conference, the ASPPA Benefits Counsel of New York, and The Actuaries’ Club of Hartford and Springfield, as well as conferences sponsored by Fidelity Investments, Plan Sponsor Magazine, and Lorman Teleconferencing.
Before starting his legal career, Harvey was a licensed electrical contractor. He has completed several graduate level courses in actuarial science. Outside of work, he enjoys playing the piano, listening to jazz, collecting art, reading science fiction and building furniture.
EDUCATION :
- Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law (LL.M., 1982)
- New York Law School (J.D., 1977)
- Temple University (B.A., 1973)
MEMBERSHIPS :
- American Bar Association
- New York Bar Association
- American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries
- National Center for Employee Ownership
- National Association of Public Pension Attorneys
BOARD OF DIRECTORS : American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries – New York
COURT ADMISSIONS :
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. Tax Court
Cost
Rate : $$$