Drinker Biddle Adds Bradford Campbell, Former Assistant Secretary of Labor, to ERISA Practice
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP welcomes Bradford P. Campbell, former Assistant Secretary of Labor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as Counsel in its Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Group in Washington, D.C. Campbell, a leading authority on employer-sponsored retirement, health and welfare benefits, joins the firm from Schiff Hardin LLP, where he focused on ERISA Title I issues, including fiduciary conduct and representation of financial service providers.
In his work as Assistant Secretary, Campbell was ERISA’s primary regulatory and enforcement official, playing a key role in every significant ERISA retirement and health reform of the prior decade. Under his leadership, EBSA first proposed the recently-finalized 408(b)(2) service provider disclosure and plan participant disclosure regulations addressing the transparency of 401(k) and other retirement plan fees. Campbell also issued the final QDIA regulation facilitating automatic enrollment of workers in their retirement plans, and a final regulation expanding participant access to professional investment advice. Earlier in his government service, Campbell assisted in developing and negotiating the Pension Protection Act of 2006, including provisions modernizing the prohibited transaction rules.
In 2011, Campbell was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Defined Contribution by 401kWire.
“Since leaving the government, Brad has quickly established himself as an effective counselor for those who need guidance on issues ranging from policy development to enforcement," said Alfred W. Putnam, Jr., Chairman of Drinker Biddle. "He has spent much of his career developing and implementing rules and regulations affecting employee benefit plans, which will be a great benefit to our clients. We are also especially pleased that we have been able to expand our presence in Washington, D.C. in this important practice area."
Campbell, who also serves as an expert witness in ERISA litigation, joins the firm's Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Group and its recently organized Financial Services ERISA Team a year after Drinker Biddle welcomed 11 lawyers from Reish & Reicher, including nationally recognized employee benefits lawyers Fred Reish and Bruce Ashton. That move strengthened the group's national presence and full-service offerings, said Howard Levine, Chair of the group. The Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Group, which now has more than 35 lawyers, covers the full spectrum of employee benefits work, handling all aspects of 401(k), pension and other retirement plans for clients, design, implementation and counseling with respect to health and welfare plans, executive compensation, and representation of plan service providers on ERISA fiduciary issues.
“We have been focused on expanding our full-service national practice with the very best lawyers," Levine said. "As ERISA's former top regulator, Brad certainly fits that bill. He has nearly 15 years of legislative and regulatory experience, and our clients will benefit from that background."
“I am extremely pleased to join one of the premiere employee benefits and ERISA practice groups in the country,” said Campbell. “The range and depth of our experience enables us to offer our clients sophisticated legal advice across the full spectrum of employee benefit issues.”
Campbell earned his law degree, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, and his bachelor's degree from Harvard University.