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FELLOW'S WEB SITEBenjamin F. Spater
San Francisco, CA
Ben concentrates his practice on the design and tax- qualification of retirement plans including pension, profit sharing and 401(k) plans, the taxation of employee benefits, executive compensation and ERISA.
He serves on the Board of Directors and was a past president of the San Francisco Chapter of the National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA), and is the former Chairperson of the Department of Labor Subcommittee of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA). He has also served on ASPPA’s Internal Revenue Service Enforcement Committee. Ben also is a member of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference (WPBC), and has served on WPBC’s Program Committee. In addition, Ben founded and is a former Chairperson of the Pension and Employee Benefits Committee of the Barristers Club of San Francisco. Ben also served for many semesters as an adjunct professor at the Golden Gate University School of Law LL.M. Tax Program teaching ERISA, Corporate Taxation and the Timing of Income Tax Transactions. Ben regularly gives speeches and conducts educational presentations for various professional organizations on cutting edge topics in the areas of retirement plans, executive compensation and ERISA.
Ben has been listed as a Top Rated Employee Benefits Attorney in San Francisco, CA by Super Lawyers since 2005 and has been listed consistently by Best Lawyers in America® for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law and ERISA Litigation for over a decade.
EDUCATION
LL.M.,Taxation, 1992
New York University School of Law
J.D., 1991
University of San Francisco School of Law
President, Tax Law Society
Bachelor of Arts in English, 1985 State University of New York at Albany
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
2020 - Present
Senior Counsel
Seyfarth Shaw, LLP
San Francisco, CA
1996 – 2019
Director (Associate prior to 2000)
Trucker Huss
San Francisco, California
1994 – 1996
Associate
Holtzmann Wise & Shepard
Palo Alto, California
PROFESSIONAL LICENSES
AND AFFILIATIONS
Member, The State Bar of California
Member, Bar Association of San Francisco (founder/former chairperson of the Pension and Employee Benefits Committee of the Barristers Club of San Francisco)
Member, American Bar Association (member of Employee Benefits Committee for the Section of Taxation)
Member, San Francisco Chapter of the National Institute of Pension Administrators (member of the Board of Directors and past president)
Member, Bay Area Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Providers
Member, Western Pension & Benefits Council (past member of the Program Committee)
Member, American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (past member of the Internal Revenue Service Enforcement Committee)
ABOUT SEYFARTH SHAW
With more than 900 lawyers across 17 offices, Seyfarth Shaw LLP provides advisory, litigation, and transactional legal services to clients worldwide.
Our benefits team supports our clients with every aspect of their employee benefits needs—from designing, drafting, and implementing plans and agreements to counseling on operational compliance and fiduciary issues.
