Mr. Mitchel D. Whitehead is a partner and in charge of the Employee Benefits Practice Group in the Los Angeles office. Mr. Whitehead has practiced in the employee benefits area since 1978, with an emphasis on the representation of large pension and health and welfare funds in both the public and private sectors.
He has extensive experience with all issues relating to these plans and their sponsoring organizations, including plan set up and design, legal compliance, ACA compliance (for both plans and employers), plan investments, fiduciary responsibility, prohibited transactions, withdrawal liability, PPA issues and compliance, mergers and spinoffs, contractual relationships with service providers, benefit claims, collections and litigation in state and federal courts.
Mr. Whitehead has also represented plans in connection with DOL and IRS audits and has been involved in numerous litigations involving alleged breach of fiduciary duty. In this regard, he has acted as counsel to a number of multi-employer pension and welfare plans, as well as collectively bargained governmental plans, including some of the largest Taft-Hartley and governmental plans in the country.
Mr. Whitehead has also specialized in representing financially troubled plans, endangered and critical status plans under PPA, insolvent plans, and plans that are experiencing difficulties with legal compliance or with their real estate or other investments. Mr. Whitehead has represented employers of all types and sizes in connection with the establishment and structuring of their employee benefits programs, and in the context of mergers, acquisitions and restructurings.
Mr. Whitehead also has extensive experience in representing investment management and consulting firms and in handling fund formation work, fiduciary responsibility and reporting issues, DOL investigations and litigation and other aspects of their investment activities.
Education:
- J.D., Loyola University School of Law, cum laude (1978)
- B.A., University of California, Riverside, cum laude (1975)
Cost
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