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.
Recognized, Tomorrow's Leaders, International Employment Lawyer (2023)
Recommended, Labor and employment: Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design, The Legal 500 US (2023)
Member, Practice Group of the Year, Benefits, Law360 (2022)
Rising Star, Employee Benefits, Washington DC Super Lawyers (2020–2023)
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)