Barbara D. Klippert principally advises underwriters, sponsors, investment managers and investors relating to financial transactions with respect to Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) issues. She works extensively on the ERISA fiduciary aspects of asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, CLOs, hedge funds, distressed debt funds, registered investment companies, real estate and venture capital funds and derivative transactions funded all or in part by ERISA and governmental benefit plan assets.
Barbara has represented The Bond Market Association/The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) in obtaining US Department of Labor approval to permit a broader range of asset-backed securities to be purchased by benefit investors.
Barbara is a member of the ABA Tax Section, Employee Benefits Committee, and is a past member of the Executive Committee and past co-chair and current member of the Employee Benefits Committee of the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association. She is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, writes on a variety of employee benefit-related topics and is the author of the “ERISA Considerations” chapter of Offerings of Asset-Backed Securities (Aspen Press, 2005, now published by Walter Kluwer/annual updates), a seminal work on ERISA considerations relating to asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. Barbara has been listed as a leading employee benefits practitioner in “New York Area’s Best Lawyers” by New York Magazine, the New York Times’ “New York Super Lawyers” and the Best Lawyers in America.
Barbara serves on the board of directors of the Little Baby Face Foundation (which provides free surgeries to indigent children born with facial deformities) and serves as pro-bono counsel to the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum.
Education
New York University School of Law, 2003, Master of Laws
State University of New York at Buffalo Law School, 1975, Juris Doctor
State University of New York at Buffalo, 1972, Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude
Admissions
New York
US District Court for the Western District of New York
US Tax Court
Awards and Affiliations
Member, Law Firm of the Year, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Chambers USA (2019)
Member, Law Firm of the Year, Employee Benefits (ERISA Law), US News/Best Lawyers – Best Law Firms (2019)
Recognized, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, New York, The Best Lawyers in America (2010–2020)
Recognized, Employee Benefits/ERISA, New York Metro Super Lawyers (2006–2016)