Mark specializes in the design, governance, compliance, and operational issues for tax-qualified and nonqualified retirement plan arrangements. He provides legal services to employers of all sizes, handling major plan redesign projects, plan governance and compliance reviews, plan correction issues and related IRS filings, retirement plan audit representation, participant communication materials, and benefit claim analysis. Mark has worked extensively with cash balance plan conversions and other defined benefit plan matters, including issues related to their regulation, operation, litigation, and termination. He has handled a variety of plan mergers and issues related to the retirement plan implications of corporate transactions. Mark regularly interacts with IRS and Treasury officials both formally and informally on behalf of clients. He works with the IRS to resolve operational failures for qualified plans and to obtain rulings on various tax issues, and has worked on numerous formal comments to proposed Treasury regulations on a variety of tax-qualification requirements. Professional Affiliations Tax Section, American Bar Association Honors & Distinctions Hall of Fame, The Legal 500 US, Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design (2019, 2020) Hall of Fame, The Legal 500 US, Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional (2020) Leading Lawyer, The Legal 500 US, Employee Health and Retirement Plans (2017) Leading Lawyer, The Legal 500 US, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (2007-2016) Former Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center Managing Editor, William and Mary Administrative Law Review
Publications IRS and PBGC Give Sponsors Until January 4, 2021 to Make Contributions Under the CARES Act Groom PublicationNovember 18, 2020
Publications IRS Issues Final Regulations Updating Minimum Required Distribution Rules Groom PublicationNovember 17, 2020
Publications The IRS Provides Relief for Mid-Year Reductions in Employer Contributions to Safe Harbor Plans COVID-19 ResourceJuly 7, 2020
Publications IRS Guidance on 2020 Required Minimum Distribution Waivers and More COVID-19 ResourceJune 25, 2020
Publications IRS Issues Anticipated CARES Act Guidance On Plan Loans and Distributions COVID-19 ResourceJune 24, 2020
Publications IRS Determination Letter Program: Upcoming Deadlines and Recent Developments Groom Benefits BriefJune 18, 2020
Publications Big Win for Employer in Actuarial Equivalence Case – Class Certification Denied Groom Benefits BriefJune 9, 2020
Publications IRS Allows Remote Notarization of Participant Elections for 2020 COVID-19 ResourceJune 4, 2020