Stuart M. Lewis

Stuart M. Lewis, who died in 2011 at age 66, was recognized as a national expert in employee benefits law. He was one of the earliest commentators on the then-new law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). A leader in his field, he was inducted as a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”) in 2000.

A native of Virginia, he received his B.A. in philosophy (1967) and J.D. (1970) from the University of Virginia and its School of Law in Charlottesville, VA. Friends from his undergraduate days shared that he approached each problem with logic and a principled methodology second to none.

Stuart began practicing tax law in Washington, DC prior to the enactment of ERISA. In the early 1970s, he practiced at Ivins, Phillips & Barker. In the mid-1970s, he joined and later became a managing partner of Silverstein & Mullens (which firm merged with Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney PC in 2000). He was chair of the Employee Benefits Group and Member of the Board of Directors at Buchanan. He continued to practice law until he retired to New Hampshire in 2010.

He became a known expert in tax-qualified retirement plans, nonqualified retirement plans, health plans, Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (“Code”) section 125 cafeteria plans, life insurance, Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”), stock options, mergers and acquisitions, and fiduciary and governance issues. His prolific comments in the Congressional Record span his career on a variety of benefits topics and began when ERISA was in its infancy. For example, on behalf of clients desiring ERISA simplification, Stuart co-authored a statement to the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Ways and Means Committee in 1978 explaining the effects of proposals involving the complicated concepts of adjusting pension benefits for Social Security benefits (referred to as Social Security integration) and application of nondiscrimination testing to welfare plans. In 1978, he also co-authored a statement for Silverstein & Mullens to the Senate Finance Committee ESOP (“Employee Stock Ownership Plans”) Hearings suggesting additional changes to broaden use of ESOPs. Over the years, he also was involved in many American Bar Association (“ABA”) comments on laws and regulations.

Stuart’s thoughtful analysis helped the pension community make sense of complicated legal principles. For example, he originated the concepts of vertical (triggered by reduction in number of participants) and horizontal (triggered by reduction in future benefit accruals) partial plan terminations that were adopted by courts to help identify situations in which a retirement plan is considered to be partially terminated such that participants should be 100% vested in applicable benefits (see In re Gulf Pension Litigation, 764 F. Supp. 1149 (S.D. Tx 1991), aff’d sub nom. Borst v. Chevron Corp., 36 F.3d 1308 (5th Cir. 1994)).

A long-time speaker, participant, and leader in the ERISA and employee benefits bar, Stuart became Vice-Chair of the ABA Section of Taxation Committee on Employee Benefits in 1990 and served as Chair in 1994-1995. He was elected a member of the Section’s governing Council (2000-2003), Vice-Chair of Government Relations (2003-2005), and became Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation in August 2009. In 2004-2005, he was Board President of the American Bar Retirement Association, which managed pension funds for lawyers and law firms.

His service to the pension community extended beyond the ABA. From 1997 to 2010, he was a member of the Board of Directors of legal publisher Tax Management, Inc. (part of the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. which was acquired by Bloomberg, L.P. in 2011 and later known as Bloomberg Industry Group) and chair of its Compensation Planning Advisory Board. He also was a member of the Advisory Boards of New York University School of Law and the “Virginia Tax Review.” He also taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University School of Law from 1973-1976 and again starting in 2004. He was a Fellow of the American College of Tax Lawyers.

Remembered as always polite, never angry, and courteous to all, Stuart was known for his “open door” policy and his willingness to discuss legal issues not only with his partners and associates, but also with other employee benefits and tax practitioners. Stuart became a mentor and colleague to many members of the employee benefits community.

Stuart’s efforts in employee benefits law helped him leave impressive contributions in the understanding and improvement of employee benefits law to grateful colleagues and the public.

See also “In Memoriam Stuart M. Lewis”, Tax Lawyer, Vol. 65, No. 1 (2012) and his obituary in the Washington Post (Feb. 24, 2012).

Photo Source: The Decade Book, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel 2000-2010