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Claire P. Rowland

Partner

Claire Powell Rowland focuses her practice on providing real world, business-minded advice to employee benefit plan sponsors in all industries, including public and private companies, startups, professional employer organizations (PEOs), governmental entities, higher education institutions, and non-profit organizations. Claire counsels clients in plan design, regulatory compliance and corrections, defense of governmental audits by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), US Department of Labor (DOL), and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), mergers and acquisitions, and ERISA class action litigation defense.

Claire’s prior work as a third-party administrator provides her with a unique insight into the administrative and operational issues facing plan sponsors, and the interaction of these issues with the legal requirements applicable to their employee benefit and executive compensation plans. She leverages this insight to clients’ advantage by combining creative problem-solving approaches with practical advice.

Claire regularly speaks and publishes regarding employee benefit plan-related topics affecting plan sponsors and industry service providers. She is most inspired by the ultimate goal of employer-sponsored retirement plans – helping workers save for retirement – and is a staunch advocate of employer retirement plans, regularly volunteering as a credentialed member of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) to lobby Congress regarding federal tax law, proposed legislation, and retirement plan policy.

  • University of Denver Sturm College of Law, 2010, J.D., with Highest Honors
  • University of Maryland, 1992, B.A., American History, cum laude
  • Washington
  • California
  • Colorado

Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Employment Law – Management, San Francisco (2026)

Member, Practice Group of the Year, Benefits, Law360 (2022)

Co-chair, ASPPA asap Committee, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (2021–2022)

Chair, IRS Subcommittee to ASPPA Government Affairs Committee, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (2022–present)

Vice-chair, IRS Subcommittee to ASPPA Government Affairs Committee, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (2020–2022)

Secretary of the Board of the ASPPA Benefits Council of the Great Northwest, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (2019–2021)

Member, University of Denver Sturm College of Law Alumni Council (2010-–2023)

Qualified Pension Administrator, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), (2002–present)

Qualified 401(k) Administrator, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), (2002–present)