Russ's practice is devoted to pension and employee benefit law with a special emphasis on the design, administration and compliance issues related to tax-qualified pension, profit-sharing and pension plans; tax sheltered annuities and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements. In addition, Russ focuses on matters which arise under the ERISA fiduciary responsibility rules affecting plan sponsors and service providers to ERISA plans including fiduciary governance issues, prohibited transaction issues in proposed service provider arrangements, and compliance with prohibited transaction exceptions.

He regularly counsels investment managers on compliance and disclosure issues in the context of investment entities deemed to hold ERISA plan assets. Russ also serves as counsel to the Reed Smith Retirement Committee which oversees the firm’s profit sharing and variable annuity defined benefit plans and serves as an advisor to the firm on general employee benefit matters.

Russ advises for-profit and not-for-profit plan sponsors on the full range of employee benefit issues in a variety of contexts, including, but not limited to: designing and drafting the plan, trust and related documents; representing sponsors before the IRS on compliance issues, providing day-to-day advice on the intricacies of plan administration and acting as benefits counsel in merger and acquisition transactions. He also assists financial services providers in the preparation of ERISA 408(b)(2) and related disclosures, compliance with QPAM and other prohibited transaction exemptions in management agreements and strategies for avoiding prohibited transaction and excise tax issues in collective investment and other “plan asset” entities.