Benefits & ERISA Law

Attorneys as Fiduciaries

Are you, or have you ever been, a fiduciary? Sometimes I am tempted to open a deposition with exactly that question, phrased as a derivation of the famous McCarthy era line. While I doubt I ever would do it, it's the million dollar question in most breach of fiduciary duty litigation under ERISA. It is so often outcome determinative, that many cases go away after a ruling on that threshold issue (whether by dismissal if the answer is no, or settlement if the answer is yes), without anyone ever tackling the question of whether imprudent conduct that fell below the fiduciary standard of care ever actually occurred.

That's a long lead in to this interesting article published by BNA, in which I am interviewed, on the role of attorneys and whether they can become fiduciaries to the benefit plans with which they work. Lawyers who are in essence working in the traditional role of outside advisors to plans and their sponsors really shouldn't be deemed fiduciaries, but one can envision, at least in theory, an attorney crossing the line and taking on decision making authority that rightly belongs to plan fiduciaries in a manner that could give traction to a claim that the attorney was, in fact, a fiduciary.

On a side note, I know creating content isn't cheap, so thanks are due to BNA for freely allowing me to republish the article here.

Full post as published by Boston ERISA Law Blog on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).