Mary A. Brauer

Greenwood Village, CO

Mary A. Brauer provides counsel on a wide range of retirement plan and employee benefits matters. A shareholder in the firm's Employee Benefits Practice since 1982, Ms. Brauer advises corporations, governmental agencies and tax-exempt organizations on issues ranging from plan design to plan termination. Ms. Brauer was the firm's first female attorney and first female shareholder.

Representative Matters and Experience

Counsel to employers on pension and deferred compensation plans including plan design, funding, operation and termination in compliance with Internal Revenue Code sections 401(a), 401(k), 403(b), 415(m), 457(b) and 457(f) and ERISA
Counsel on fiduciary and prohibited transaction aspects of retirement plan investments and administration
Counsel to employers on medical and other welfare benefit plans covering active employees and retirees including plan design, administration and funding in compliance with tax laws and ERISA
Counsel on laws governing reporting, disclosure and employee communications for benefit plans
In pursuit of the goal of tax law simplification, Ms. Brauer served as member and chair of an American Bar Association subcommittee that successfully advised Congress to eliminate the dauntingly complex "combined retirement plan limits" of Internal Revenue Code section 415(e)
Accolades

Selected as a charter member of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel at its inception in 2000
Martindale-Hubbell's highest peer review rating of AV for legal ability and ethical standards
Notable Publications

Ms. Brauer has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Benefits Law Journal since 1988
"State and Local Government Pensions: In What Circumstances Can Governments Reduce Pension Benefits?" Benefits Law Journal. Winter 2007. Vol. 20, No. 4, page 61
"Welfare Plan Mergers and Spin-Offs: Many Rules, Little Guidance." Benefits Law Journal. Summer 1995. Vol. 8, No. 2, page 59
"What the Courts Think COBRA Means: The Early Cases." Benefits Law Journal. Spring 1992. Vol. 5, No. 61, page 61
"Health Care Cutbacks: More Traps for the Unwary." Benefits Law Journal. Winter 1990/91. Vol. 3, No. 4, page 439
"Tax Rules Governing Rollover IRAs." The Colorado Lawyer. September 1990
Affiliations/Memberships

State Bars of Colorado and Wisconsin
American Bar Association
Phi Beta Kappa
Editorial Advisory Board of the Benefits Law Journal
Employee Benefits Committee of the American Bar Association (Taxation Section)
Charter member of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review while attending the University of Wisconsin Law School
Member of the Arapahoe (Colorado) Philharmonic; French horn section
Education

J.D., cum laude, University of Wisconsin Law School
M.A., University of Minnesota
B.A., magna cum laude, Lawrence University