EXPERIENCE

Mr. Lawrence Schiller is Of Counsel to the firm and specializes in qualified retirement plans and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, including all aspects of ERISA, retirement plan tax issues and employee benefits.

Mr. Schiller began his practice with tax-qualified retirement plans shortly after the passage of ERISA. As legal counsel to large and small for-profit and non-profit entities, Mr. Schiller provides legal advice and services relating to all aspects of design, implementation, compliance and correction of qualified plans and non-qualified retirement arrangements, including, among others, 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans, target benefit plans, executive compensation arrangements and employee benefits, including matters relating to tax consequences and fiduciary obligations. He also has represented third-party administrators with regard to compliance and administrative issues relating to plans they administer.

Mr. Schiller has given presentations on tax-qualified retirement plans for a number of professional organizations, including the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants, the Oakland County Bar Association, the American Society of Employers, the Detroit Chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists, the Michigan Chapter of the International Association of Financial Planners, the Independent Accountants Association of Michigan and the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Tax Practitioners.

Mr. Schiller has an “AV” Peer Review rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest ranking by peers for general ethical standards and legal ability.

ARTICLES

Mr. Schiller has served as an adjunct professor, teaching pension and ERISA courses, at Wayne State University Law School and the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law, and has taught in Oakland University’s Legal Assistant Program, Certified Employee Benefits Specialist Program, and Certified Financial Planner Program.

Mr. Schiller has authored “Proposed ERISA Vesting Regulations: Not What They Seem To Be” in the Journal of Corporation Law (1981), which was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 451 U.S. 503, 513 fn. 10 (1981). He also has authored pension articles that have appeared in the Michigan Tax Lawyer (published by the Section of Taxation of the State Bar of Michigan), in Laches (the Journal of the Oakland County Bar Association) and in Michigan Forward (published by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce), and has served as Employee Benefits Current Developments Editor for the Tax Lawyer (published by the Taxation Section of the American Bar Association).

Distinctions

•  Oakland County Bar Association’s Frances Avadenka Memorial Award
   (for outstanding significant contributions to the Oakland County Community) 1994
•  Oakland County Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award 1989

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