Amy Pocino Kelly provides strategic, day-to-day guidance on employee benefits plan matters to plan sponsors, including public and private companies, tax-exempt organizations, and governmental employers. She counsels these clients on the design, governance, operation, and compliance of qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, equity and executive compensation arrangements, and welfare benefit plans. Amy also represents plan sponsors in audit and correction matters before the US Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Amy provides critical benefits and executive compensation counseling to assist clients in integrating, changing, or terminating benefits plans. During and after mergers and acquisitions, she oversees due diligence reviews of benefit plans and handles executive compensation for key management. She also supervises the design and implementation of retention agreements and analysis of the application of Sections 280G and 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. Collaborating with management, in-house counsel, consultants, and board compensation committees, she helps develop equity compensation and executive plans and agreements. She also represents senior management teams in leveraged buyouts.
In addition, Amy counsels clients on plan governance and fiduciary obligations, including investment issues and prohibited transactions. To keep clients in compliance with US federal rules, she helps them identify and correct administration or document failures in accordance with the IRS Employee Plan Compliance Resolution System. She also guides them in analyzing and fixing fiduciary failures under the DOL’s voluntary correction program.
Often when other firms represent their clients in transactions, they call in Amy as a consultant on the employee benefits, employment, and labor issues that arise in those deals. Amy led the firm’s representation in a merger of two national landscape management companies. She and her team advised on employee benefits, labor and employment, immigration, and government contracts matters. That advice included diligence and negotiation of the merger agreement with respect to multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liability issues. The deal closed, and the combined company has more than 20,000 employees, approximately $2 billion in annual revenues, and 140 years of industry experience.
Amy regularly speaks on employee benefits topics at external and co-hosted events and presentations, and in Morgan Lewis–hosted webinars, roundtables, and events. To help organizations committed to education, human rights, the arts, athletics, and low income and homeless people, Amy provides pro bono employee benefits advice and counseling. She also serves as vice chair of the board for Women Against Abuse.
Amy is the hiring partner for the Philadelphia office and chairs the Philadelphia office Recruiting Committee.
Listed, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2012–2017)
Recommended, Labor and employment - Employee benefits and executive compensation (transactions) (2016–2017); Labor and employment - Employee health and retirement plans (2017), The Legal 500 US
2017–2018 - Executive Leaders Radio
3/1/2017 - Are Hardships Getting Harder?
1/18/2017 - COBRA Compliance – Reminder for Energy Companies
1/11/2017 - COBRA: Back to Basics
2/5/2016 - Developments in Spousal Rights under Employee Benefit Plans (Part II)
2/2/2016 - Developments in Spousal Rights under Employee Benefit Plans (Part I)
8/8/2013 - Hidden Employee Benefits Liabilities in Private Equity Portfolio Companies
4/17/2013 - New Opinion and Advisory Program for Pre-Approved 403(b) Plans
4/1/2013 - Expanded Guidance from IRS on 403(b) Plans
5/24/2012 - Managing 409A Issues in Change-of-Control Transactions
6/23/2011 - Preparing for a Change in Control
5/24/2011 - Secrets of a Successful 2010 403(b) Audit and 5500 Filing
5/5/2010 - Roth 401(k) Contributions, Safe Harbor 401(k) Plans, and Automatic Enrollment Webinar
10/16/2017 - Morgan Lewis Advises Aramark in $1 Billion Acquisition of AmeriPride Services
10/13/2017 - Morgan Lewis Advises CarGurus in Initial Public Offering
10/14/2015 - Morgan Lewis Advises Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget in $513M Pending Acquisition
8/5/2015 - Morgan Lewis Advises Virtium in Growth Investment by L Squared Capital Partners
6/26/2015 - Morgan Lewis Represents General Econopak in $175 Million Sale to Steris Corporation
12/29/2014 - Morgan Lewis Advises BNI in Growth Investment
11/12/2014 - Morgan Lewis Advises Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. in sale to BB&T Corporation
7/16/2014 - Morgan Lewis Advises InnoPharma on $225 Million Acquisition by Pfizer
6/19/2014 - Morgan Lewis Advises NYX Cosmetics on Sale to L'Oréal
5/28/2014 - Morgan Lewis Advises Brickman on Merger with ValleyCrest
5/22/2014 - Morgan Lewis Advises Agile Therapeutics on IPO
4/16/2012 - Morgan Lewis Advises Fanatics on Acquisition of Dreams for $183M
10/3/2011 - Morgan Lewis Advises ARAMARK on Sale of its Galls Business to CI Capital Partners
6/20/2011 - Morgan Lewis Advises Susquehanna on Acquisition of Tower
3/28/2011 - Morgan Lewis Advises GSI Commerce on $2.4 Billion Acquisition by eBay
2/9/2011 - Morgan Lewis Advises GSI in $277M Acquisition of Fanatics
1/27/2011 - Morgan Lewis Advises Susquehanna Bancshares on Acquisition of Abington Bancorp
11/9/2010 - Morgan Lewis Advises Grupo Bimbo on Acquisition of Sara Lee
10/28/2010 - Morgan Lewis Advises BMP Sunstone on Acquisition by Sanofi-Aventis
8/14/2017 - TEI 2017 Federal Tax Course – Level II
4/25/2017 - Retirement Plans: Steering the Fiduciary Ship (Philadelphia)
4/25/2017 - Morgan Lewis Public Company Academy
3/22/2017 - Hot Topics in Employee Benefits: What We’re Seeing – March 2017
2/23/2017 - Missing Participants and the DOL’s Current Crusade
2/15/2017 - Lost and Missing Participant Issues 2017
2/2/2017 - 2017 Securities and Executive Compensation Updates
1/18/2017 - 2017 Securities and Executive Compensation Updates (Philadelphia)
11/16/2016 - 2016 Plan Sponsor Basics: Plan Audit Issues
6/14/2016 - The DOL’s Fiduciary Rule: What Is It, and How Will It Affect Your Plan?
12/16/2015 - Hot Topics in Employee Benefits: What We’re Seeing – December 2015
11/3/2015 - IMPACT 2015 Capital Conference
10/5/2015 - GPACC Business Skills Institute and Progressive Dinner
9/17/2015 - Pensions & Investments Custom Target-Date Strategies Breakfast Briefing (New York)
9/16/2015 - Hot Topics in Employee Benefits: What We’re Seeing – September 2015
5/6/2015 - Executive Compensation: Motivating and Retaining Key Employees
4/28/2015 - PBI’s 21st Annual Employment Law Institute
8/8/2013 - Hidden Employee Benefits Liabilities in Private Equity Portfolio Companies
Copyright © 2018 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. All rights reserved.