Mr. Wiggins has practiced in employee benefits, executive compensation, and ERISA litigation for over fourteen years. In 2008, the United States Secretary of Labor appointed Mr. Wiggins to the ERISA Advisory Council, where he advises the Secretary on her functions under ERISA. Recently he was appointed as the Chair for the ERISA Advisory Council‘s 2010 study of Employee Benefit Plan Auditing and Financial Reporting Models. Mr. Wiggins is a graduate of Cornell Law School and the University of North Florida.
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Plan Compliance
Advise the United States Secretary of Labor on her functions under ERISA with respect to retirement plan disclosures.
Draft individually-designed defined benefit plans from scratch and obtain IRS determination letters.
Draft individually-designed defined contribution plans (including ESOPs) and obtain IRS determination letters.
Draft and amend 403(b) plans and 457 plans.
Draft and amend health and welfare plans, including cafeteria plans.
Initiate contact with high-level personnel at the U.S. Department of Labor to assist client who had failed to file a Form 5500 audit because the client had inadvertently destroyed plan records; negotiate modified audit procedures with the Department of Labor and the plan’s auditors in order to obtain a satisfactory plan audit that would close out the matter for the client.
Represent publicly traded corporation with respect to the correction of qualified plan errors.
Represent publicly traded corporation before the IRS on an employee plan audit.
Represent client before the Department of Labor with respect to an investigation of delinquent contributions; advise client on Department of Labor subpoena powers with respect to qualified plans.
Prepare governmental health plan trust.
ERISA Fiduciary Counseling
Advise the United States Secretary of Labor on her functions under ERISA with respect to target date funds and stable value funds.
Review and negotiate trust agreements and vendor agreements. Counsel clients on their fiduciary diligence with respect to plan fees and services, from preparation of the RFP to final implementation of all plan documents and related agreements.
Represent client in the steel industry with respect to the transfer of trust assets to a new investment manager and custodian.
Advise clients on compliance with ERISA Section 404(c).
ERISA Litigation
Serve as lead outside counsel representing the PBGC in federal court.
Serve as lead counsel on an ERISA retirement benefit claim before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Serve as lead counsel on ERISA health and welfare benefit claims in state and federal court.
Serve as lead counsel on ERISA fiduciary claims in federal court.
Pension Plan Investments
Review pension plan investments involving over $10 million in real estate and other non-traditional investments for prohibited transaction issues, unrelated business taxable income issues, securities laws issues, and custodial issues.
Advise private equity funds with respect to private placement memorandums offered to ERISA entities for capital commitments in excess of $10 million.
Opine on and establish real estate operating companies and venture capital operating companies involving over $100 million in ERISA plan assets.
Counsel clients on IRA investments in real estate and other non-traditional investments.
Obtain prohibited transaction exemptions with respect to transactions involving, in the aggregate, close to $1 billion.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Conduct employee benefit plan due diligence for acquisition involving over $100 million; merge numerous predecessor defined benefit plans post-acquisition into one successor plan.
Counsel privately-held corporation being acquired by a publicly traded corporation for over $10 million with respect to 280G issues, including preparation of all documents related to shareholder approval of parachute payments, and Internal Revenue Code Section 83 issues.
Conduct due diligence with respect to employment agreements and equity-based compensation.
Executive Compensation
Draft omnibus equity-based compensation plan for publicly traded corporations.
