Profile

Brian is an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney and co-chair of the firm’s tax practice.

With more than 35 years of experience, he primarily concentrates his practice on Taft-Hartley collectively bargained multiemployer pension and health and welfare plans; defending delinquent employer contribution actions and withdrawal liability assessments; defending mass withdrawal liability assessments and representing employers in potential settlements with the PBGC.

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  • Listed in:
    • The Best Lawyers in America®, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Tax Law, 2008-2024 (listed for more than 15 years)
      • Lawyer of the Year (Syracuse), Tax Law, 2017; 2019; 2021
      • Lawyer of the Year (Syracuse),  Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2015; 2017; 2020
    • New York Super Lawyers®, Employee Benefits, 2023
    • Martindale-Hubbell®, AV Preeminent Rated
  • Fellow, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
  • American Bar Association, Labor Law Section, Employee Benefits Committee
  • New York State Bar Association, Trusts and Estates Law Section, Insurance and Pension Committee; Former Chair, Life Insurance and Employee Benefits Committee
  • Strathmore's Who's Who, 2010 Professional of the Year for Employee Benefits Law

  • IRA Planning Under the Required Minimum Distribution Rules, Central New York Accounting & Financial Women's Alliance, November 22, 2019
  • Pension Protection Act and Withdrawal Liability, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, September 2018
  • The Growing Employer Liabilities Associated with Participating in Collectively Bargained Multiemployer Pension Funds, Bond Statewide Pension Fund Seminar, January 2017
  • Bond's Statewide Pension Fund Seminar, Fall 2016
  • Multiemployer Pension Plans Strategy, Client Presentation, August 2016
  • The New Funding Rules Under the Pension Protection Act -- Hidden Employer Liabilities and Negotiation Strategies and Withdrawal Liability Under ERISA, Bond/Harbridge Statewide Pension Fund Seminar, June 2012
  • Financial Exposure Under the Pension Protection Act, FASB Disclosure Requirements and Withdrawal and Mass Withdrawal Liability Issues
  • Mass Withdrawal from Distressed Pension Plans, Iron Workers Attorneys Conference, April 2010
  • Pension Protection Act -- Collective Bargaining from the Employer's Standpoint, North American Iron Workers 2010 IMPACT Labor-Management Conference, February 2010
  • Marital Issues -- Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, New York State Bar Association, September 2008

  • Board member, Hope for Bereaved, Inc.