Eric G. Serron

Partner

• eserron@steptoe.com
• vCard
• Washington Office

Eric G. Serron is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is a member of the Litigation Department.  He practices primarily in the employee benefits area, with a particular emphasis in Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation and fiduciary responsibility issues.

Mr. Serron regularly provides advice and counsel to clients regarding their obligations under Title I of ERISA, including  compliance with ERISA’s fiduciary responsibility provisions and prohibited transaction rules.  He represents clients before the Department of Labor in matters involving ERISA compliance issues.  He also represents clients in litigation matters, including cases involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, benefit claims disputes, withdrawal liability cases, and cases raising questions of ERISA preemption of state law.  He successfully defended claims against former members of a profit sharing plan’s administrative committee who were alleged to have breached their fiduciary duties by failing to consummate a sale of the plan’s employer stock to another shareholder in the midst of a contest for control over the company.  In another case, he persuaded a state supreme court to dismiss on ERISA preemption grounds a nationwide class action alleging that a pharmaceutical benefits manager unjustly enriched itself at the expense of health plan participants by “misclassifying” a generic drug as a brand name drug in assessing copayments due under the plans.  He also was involved in the successful defense of fiduciary breach claims against an investment manager based on investments in complex mortgage derivatives.

Prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. Serron served as a trial attorney in the Plan Benefits Security Division of the Office of the Solicitor, US Department of Labor.  In that capacity he represented the Secretary of Labor in complex fiduciary breach cases under ERISA at both the trial and appellate court levels.  During this time, he represented the Secretary in a number of actions involving debt-financed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) transactions, including Reich v. Valley National Bank, 837 F. Supp. 1259 (S.D.N.Y. 1993), which contributed substantially to the development of the law governing ESOP-financed leveraged buyouts.  He also prosecuted cases against pension plan fiduciaries who purchased plan termination annuities from Executive Life Insurance Company, formulated the Department's legal analysis of rebates paid on experience-rated insurance contracts, and authored amicus curiae briefs on a variety of topics, including ERISA preemption, fiduciary responsibility, and remedies.

Mr. Serron is an adjunct professor with the Georgetown University LLM program and speaks frequently on employee benefits matters.

Noteworthy

• Recommended by Legal 500 US 2008 for Labor & Employment: ERISA Litigation 
• ERISA Team Wins Twice for Caremark in Misclassification, Fiduciary Status

Select News & Events

• US Legal 500 Recognizes Steptoe & Johnson LLP’s Leading Practices and Lawyers
• Paul Ondrasik Co-Chairs, Eric Serron Speaks at, 21st Annual ERISA Litigation Conference, February 12, 2009
• 401(k) Fees: An Update on Regulatory Actions Affecting Service Providers, July 23, 2008
• Eric Serron to Speak at Washington Legislative Update at Washington Court Hotel, May 19, 2008
• Eric Serron to Speak at AHIP Law Forum on ERISA Issues, March 6, 2008
• Eric Serron to Speak at SIFMA Savings and Retirement Conference, February 29, 2008
• Eric Serron, Paul Ondrasik to Speak at 20th Annual ERISA Litigation Conference, February 14, 2008
• ERISA Attorneys Win Twice for Caremark
• Steptoe Promotes 13 Attorneys in 2006

Selected Publications

• ERISA Advisory - Labor Department Issues But Then Proposes to Delay Effective Date of Final Regulation Addressing Provision of Investment Advice to Participants and Beneficiaries of Self-Directed Individual Account Plans
  February 3, 2009
• ERISA Advisory - Labor Department Issues Proposed Regulations and Class Exemption Addressing Provision of Investment Advice to Participants and Beneficiaries of Self-Directed Individual Account Plans and IRAs
  August 25, 2008
• ERISA Advisory - Labor Department Issues Enforcement Guidelines Dealing With The Receipt Of Gifts And Gratuities By Plan Fiduciaries
  August 4, 2008
• ERISA Advisory - Labor Department To Issue Proposed Regulations Addressing Notice Requirements In Participant-Directed Plans
  July 22, 2008
• ERISA Preemption and State Health Care Reform (Part 2)
  Summer 2008, infrastructure
• ERISA Preemption and State Health Care Reform (Part 1)
  Spring 2008, infrastructure
• Prudent Methods for Evaluating, Selecting and Monitoring Plan Advisors
  Chapter 15, Fiduciaries and Their Professional Advisors (Published by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
  February 2008
• ERISA Update - Leber v. Citigroup, Inc. and Gipson v. Wells Fargo & Co.
  December 11, 2007

More Publications »