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Morgan Lewis
Michael Gorman

Michael Gorman

Associate

Pittsburgh Phone +1.412.560.7476 Fax +1.412.560.7001

One Oxford Centre, 32nd Fl.//Pittsburgh, PA 15219-6401//United States

Michael Gorman advises multiemployer benefit funds, public and private companies, tax-exempt organizations, and governmental employers on the design, governance, operation, and compliance of qualified and nonqualified retirement plans and welfare benefit plans. A trusted advisor, Mike handles legal issues arising under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, the Affordable Care Act, the Multiemployer Pension Protection Act, the Pension Protection Act, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act, HIPAA, and COBRA. As a co-leader of Morgan Lewis’s employee benefits cybersecurity initiative, Mike counsels clients dealing with high-profile identity theft, data breach, and ransomware events and clients undergoing DOL audits of their cybersecurity practices.

Mike works extensively with pooled employer plans (PEPs), a new type of retirement plan product that first became available in 2021. He counsels clients on the fiduciary and compliance issues associated with designing, operating, and servicing PEPs. He also advises employers that are evaluating PEPs as an alternative to single-employer plans.   

Mike has published numerous articles on employee benefits issues, including in the New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, Bloomberg Tax, and PLANSPONSOR. Additionally, Mike co-edits the 403(b), 457, and PEP chapters of Bender’s Federal Income Taxation of Retirement Plans, a LexisNexis treatise.  

An avid public speaker, Mike presented on PEPs at the 2022 DCIIA Public Policy Forum and frequently speaks on webinars addressing a wide variety of employee benefits issues. He is a guest lecturer on employee benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Penn State Dickinson Law.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mike worked at a boutique law firm in Washington, DC, focusing on compliance issues confronting multiemployer plans.

Awards and Affiliations

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

Rising Star, Employee Benefits, Washington DC Super Lawyers (2020–2022)

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)

Admissions

  • Pennsylvania
  • District of Columbia
  • Virginia

Education

  • Cornell Law School, 2015, J.D., cum laude
  • Cornell University, S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, 2015, M.B.A.
  • Westminster College, 2012, B.A., summa cum laude

Sectors

Services

Regions

Events

1/26/2023 - SECURE Act 2.0: Groundbreaking Retirement Plan Legislation
6/3/2022 - Employee Benefits and Cybersecurity and Privacy Issues: 2022 Update
1/13/2022 - A View from the Experts: DOL Cybersecurity Guidance: What It Means and How to Implement It
5/20/2021 - Understanding the Practical Impact of the DOL’s New Cybersecurity Guidance
10/1/2020 - Hot Topics in Employee Benefits: What We’re Seeing – October 2020
2/4/2020 - SECURE Act: Pooled Employer Plans - An Introduction

News

3/31/2023 - Morgan Lewis’s Michael Gorman Named Among International Employment Lawyer’s Tomorrow’s Leaders 2023
2/3/2020 - Signing and Retaining Plan Documents Is Essential, Plan Sponsor

Publications

2/16/2023 - DOL Continues Active ERISA Enforcement and Focus on Cybersecurity, Including Health and Welfare Plans
12/27/2022 - SECURE Act 2.0: Congress Delivers Retirement Plan Legislation and Holiday Cheer as Part of Year-End Spending Bill
5/19/2022 - Could Sponsoring a Pooled Employer Plan Grow Your Business?
5/10/2022 - Digesting the New Proposed Exception to the ‘One-Bad-Apple Rule’ for MEPs and PEPs
2/23/2022 - SEC Proposes Cybersecurity Risk Management Rules for Advisers and Funds
1/21/2022 - DOL Updates Form 5500 for PEPs and MEPs; No Decision Yet on Group of Plan Issues
12/7/2021 - VAPPs in Vogue: Increased Flexibility Breathes Life into a Longstanding Multiemployer Pension Plan Design
10/14/2021 - Tax-Exempt Orgs, Beware This 403(b) Plan Compliance Pitfall, Law360
6/11/2021 - DOL Begins Its Cybersecurity Audit Initiative – And It’s a Doozy
4/28/2021 - A Deeper Dive into the DOL's First-of-Its-Kind Cybersecurity Guidance, A&G Magazine
4/27/2021 - LawFlash: A Deeper Dive into the DOL’s First-of-Its-Kind Cybersecurity Guidance
4/23/2021 - A Deeper Dive into the DOL’s First-of-Its-Kind Cybersecurity Guidance
3/19/2021 - The DOL Is Focusing on Cybersecurity; Plan Fiduciaries May Want to Consider Doing the Same
10/6/2020 - Bringing PEPs into Perspective: DOL’s Proposed Rule on Pooled Plan Provider Registration and Other Guidance, Bloomberg Tax
9/4/2020 - DOL Proposes Rules on Pooled Plan Provider Registration Process
September 2020 - PEP Rally! Explaining the Excitement for Pooled Employer Plans, New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
6/29/2020 - IRS Releases New Guidance for Distributions and Loans from Retirement Plans Under CARES Act
6/24/2020 - Information Requested on Pooled Employer Plan Prohibited Transaction Issues: Act Quickly to Help Shape Exemptive Relief
June 2020 - Is Mandatory Individual Arbitration Another Tool for the Plan Design Toolbox?, Employee Benefit Plan Review
5/8/2020 - Stay Tuned – DOL to Issue RFI on Pooled Employer Plans
May 2020 - Structuring Student Loan Repayment Benefit Programs, Benefits Magazine
February/March 2020 - Multiple Changes for Multiple Employer Plans, Employee Benefit Plan Review
1/30/2020 - IRS Says Show Me the Signatures for Qualified Plan Documents
1/21/2020 - Cadillac Tax Repealed, PCORI Fee Extended
12/26/2019 - SECURE Act Increases Access to Retirement Plans with ’Pooled Employer Plans’
11/19/2019 - Mandatory Individual Arbitration Provisions with Respect to ERISA Claims
11/18/2019 - Is Mandatory Individual Arbitration Another Tool for the Plan Design Toolbox?
10/10/2019 - Multiple Changes for Multiple Employer Plans
10/9/2018 - How to Help a Plan in Need: PBGC Issues Final Regulations on Multiemployer Plan Mergers
4/10/2018 - Son of Buyer Beware! Multiemployer Withdrawal Liability and Asset Sales
1/5/2018 - Is the Modified VCP User Fee Schedule a Gift for Qualified Retirement Plan Sponsors in the New Year?
12/21/2017 - Tax Exempt Organizations: Year-End Considerations in Response to New IRC Section 4960
10/6/2017 - DC District Court Remands EEOC Wellness Program Regulations for Reconsideration