Gary S. Tell

Gary S. Tell, who died in 2011 when only 44 years old, achieved distinction as a public and private sector employee benefits lawyer. He was a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”), having been inducted in 2014 as an In Memoriam Fellow.

Gary received his A.B. magna cum laude in political science in 1989 from Brown University in Providence, RI and his J.D. in 1992 from the University of Chicago Law School.

Spending his entire career in Washington, DC, he started in 1992 at Groom and Nordberg, Chartered (which evolved to become Groom Law Group, Chartered). From 1995 to 1999, Gary was a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL’s”) Office of the Solicitor, Plan Benefits Security Division. In that role, he assisted the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (renamed the Employee Benefits Security Administration in 2003) with investigations and handled Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) litigation across the country. The Secretary of Labor presented Gary with several Exceptional Achievement Awards, including an award for his drafting of amicus curiae briefs on a wide variety of ERISA issues, ranging from preemption to the scope of liability under the statute.

In 1999, he returned to private practice at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he became a partner in 2004, and practiced until his death in 2011. Gary earned distinction as both a leading ERISA litigator and as a sought-after advisor to plan sponsors and financial institutions on ERISA fiduciary matters. Among Gary’s most notable cases was McCullough v. AEGON USA, Inc., 585 F.3d 1082 (8th Cir. 2009), a case that helped define how participants could bring lawsuits against plan fiduciaries for breach of fiduciary duties and for engaging in prohibited transactions relating to the payment of fees and use of proprietary investments in pension and profit-sharing plans. Gary helped lead the litigation and the appeals in the case.

Contributing much to the legal scholarship on ERISA fiduciary responsibility and pension plan investments, he wrote for the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation and was a contributing editor for “ERISA Fiduciary Law,” a treatise published by Bloomberg BNA (later renamed Bloomberg Industry Group). One of his most significant writing contributions was as co-editor of the “ERISA Litigation Reporter” (published by Thomson Corporation, which in 2008 became Thomson Reuters Corporation) from about 2008 until his death. College Fellows David Gordon and Robert Eccles founded this publication and, impressed by Gary’s abilities and contributions, personally selected Gary as a co-editor to succeed them.

Gary also spoke frequently on those topics at professional gatherings, including the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits and the ABA Business Law Section. He appeared at the Annual ERISA Litigation Conference and conferences on ERISA fiduciary law sponsored by Thomson Reuters (and its predecessors) and on pension plan investments sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute.

From 2008 to his death, Gary served as a Co-chair of the Civil Procedure Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section.

A talented, hard-working lawyer, Gary was described by friends and colleagues as witty, humble, brilliant, wonderfully upbeat, positive, kind, and warm. Colleagues recalled that he made practicing law fun and was always able to inject the perfect amount of humor when it was needed most. Even his adversaries in litigation noted Gary’s civility and the complete absence of acrimony in their dealings.

In his last months, Gary envisioned a scholarship program for law students to encourage them to consider public service by working in ERISA litigation as interns. The scholarships would help young lawyers facing financial hurdles who might otherwise forgo public service to pursue other paths toward benefits careers. Gary’s wishes later would be realized by the creation of the Gary S. Tell ERISA Litigation Scholarship Foundation, which began awarding scholarships for DOL internships in 2014. For more information about the Foundation, see: https://www.gstscholars.org/

College Fellows David E. Gordon and Paul J. Ondrasik were Gary’s College nominators. College Fellow Robert N. Eccles contributed to the College nomination.

Photo Source: Gary S. Tell ERISA Litigation Scholarship Foundation, "About" https://www.gstscholars.org/