Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Speak at IFEBP Certification Program

PHILADELPHIA (June2018) – Employee benefits attorneys James S. Beall and Louise “Wendy” Pongracz, of labor, employment and workers compensation law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson, recently spoke as part of a certification program of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP).

The attorneys presented sessions at the IFEBP’s Certificate of Achievement in Public Plan Policy (CAPPP) program. Held June 12 and 13 in Chicago, the program provides a thorough understanding of legal, legislative, plan design, and fiduciary aspects of public sector benefit plans.

Beall co-presented on fiduciary duties, using real-world situations as examples, for pension trustees, administrators, and professional advisors. Pongracz gave an overview of fiduciary duties for health and welfare trustees, administrators and professional advisors, closing with a review of “hot topics” in the public sector’s legal environment.

A partner at Willig, Williams & Davidson, Beall advises and represents a wide variety of public and private-sector single and multi-employer funds on comprehensive employee benefit and tax matters. He focuses on employee benefits law for the firm’s joint labor-management pension and welfare fund clients, as well as its labor union clients. A sought-after speaker, Beall has been recognized among the Best Lawyers in America each year for more than a decade.

Also a partner at Willig, Williams & Davidson, Pongracz counsels and represents public and private-sector single and multi-employer funds in a comprehensive range of employee benefit issues. With more than 30 years of experience in legal practice, she is a frequent and often-requested speaker and author on topics ranging from benefits in labor negotiations to compliance with federal benefits laws and regulations.

Founded in 1954, the IFEBP is a nonprofit organization that provides objective, independent education, information and research services for professionals who work with employee benefits, compensation, and financial literacy education. Its more than 33,000 members include trustees and administrators from multiemployer/Taft-Hartley trust funds; benefits, compensation and HR directors from the private sector; public employee plan managers, administrators and trustees; and professional service providers such as accountants, actuaries, attorneys, and other consultants who work with benefit and compensation plans.

About Willig, Williams & Davidson – Willig, Williams & Davidson (www.wwdlaw.com) is one of the largest and most respected union-side labor law firms in the United States. The firm has offices in Philadelphia, Jenkintown and Harrisburg, Pa., as well as Haddonfield, N.J., and Chicago, Ill. Founded in 1979, Willig, Williams & Davidson focuses on representing labor unions, employee benefit funds and individual working people and their families on a variety of legal fronts, including national, regional and local contract negotiations; dispute resolution through mediation, arbitration and litigation; tax and benefit law compliance issues; discrimination and other employment matters; prepaid legal services for union members; and workers’ compensation matters in Philadelphia and beyond.