Kevin Walsh

About Kevin Walsh

I chair Groom\'s fiduciary practice group and advise clients on a wide range of fiduciary matters and other issues involving retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), governmental plans, and IRAs). My practice centers on helping asset managers, plan service providers, plan fiduciaries, and others comply with ERISA and related laws. In the last few years, my main focus has been bringing innovation to the 401(k) space. This has involved developing and defending service offerings that provide retirement savers access to digital assets, building target-date funds that allocate to private equity and private credit, creating a more stable framework for lifetime income products, working with plan sponsors and trade associations on developing a framework for fiduciaries to evaluate these products, and pushing Congress, the courts, and agencies to give everyday Americans access to portfolio diversifying tools.Retirement plans and retirement plan investments have many regulators. My practice involves working with not just the Department of Labor (DOL), but also the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and state insurance commissioners. This work includes seeking to collaborate with agencies to develop better outcomes and also working through the courts when collaboration is not an option.On these and related topics, I have been quoted in/and or written pieces for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BNA, BenefitsPRO, TaxNotes, Pension & Investment, Investment News, and other periodicals, and speak regularly at conferences sponsored by Georgetown University, the ABA, EBRI, ICI, IRI, ACLI, IPA, PREA, DCREC, SPARK, FIRMA, PlanAdviser, PlanSponsor, ASPPA, DCALTA, IPEBLA, and others.

Experience

1. Principal

   Groom Law Group, Chartered

   Jan 2019 — Present · Washington, DC, US

   I advise clients on a wide range of fiduciary matters and other issues involving retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), governmental plans, and IRAs). My practice focuses on helping plan service providers, plan fiduciaries, and others comply with ERISA and related laws. In addition, I have helped clients with health plan issues like compliance with the ACA\'s employer mandate and reporting requirements.Right now, I\'m focused on the emergence of new standards of care (Reg BI, the states, insurance commissioners). Other hot topics are multiple employer plans (MEPs, ARPs, and PEPs) and the developing regulatory structure surrounding data privacy (GDPR, state, and federal efforts). All three of these emerging areas could have a major impact on plans and plan service providers.While focused on primarily ERISA and rules promulgated by the Department of Labor (DOL); my practice covers overlapping regulatory structures, including those of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The help I provide clients is varied and includes product design, transactional assistance, traditional counseling, updating plan and corporate governance, advocating for legislative/regulatory changes, and defense against governmental investigations. On these and related topics, I have been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BNA, BenefitsPRO, TaxNotes, Pension & Investment, Investment News, and other periodicals, and have spoken at conferences sponsored by SPARK, FIRMA, PlanAdviser, ASPPA, DCALTA, and others.

Education

• University of Virginia School of Law

  JD, Law

  2006 — 2009

• Georgetown University

  BA, Government

  2001 — 2005

Skills

• Corporate Law
• Erisa
• Public Policy
• Commercial Litigation
• Westlaw
• Civil Litigation
• Employee Benefits
• Securities
• Courts
• Legislative Relations
• Corporate Governance
• Employment Law
• Policy Analysis
• Appeals
• Mediation
• Legal Writing
• Litigation
• Legal Research
• Legislation