Marc I. Machiz

Naples, FL

Marc Machiz is a Principal of Justican Mediation, LLC together with Susan Katz Hoffman (also a Charter Fellow of the ACEBC) Prior to forming Justican Mediation, Mr. Machiz worked in various capacities for DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration, including as the Regional Director of the Philadelphia Region from 2012-2015. In that capacity he helped reorient EBSA's enforcement program toward major cases and launched the Regional Project that would become EBSA's Terminated Vested Participant Project, recovering billions for missing participants. He had previously served as the resident Partner at the Philadelphia office of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. Mr. Machiz represented participants in ERISA class actions involving a wide range of issues, including the imprudent purchase of employer stock, the improper termination and modification of benefits, and discharges to interfere with pension rights. He has submitted amicus curiae briefs on behalf of the Pension Rights Center and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners before the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts, consulted with the AFL-CIO on legislation to expand healthcare coverage, and represented independent fiduciaries in evaluating settlements on behalf of plans. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Machiz was an attorney with the Department of Labor, where he was the Associate Solicitor responsible for all ERISA enforcement litigation brought by the Secretary of Labor and all legal advice provided under the statute. While at the Department, he was responsible for instituting the Department's amicus brief writing program which advocated the Department's views on a wide range of ERISA issues. Mr. Machiz is a Charter Fellow of the College. He has served as Plaintiffs co-chair of the preemption subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA's labor section. He received his JD from Boalt Hall, Berkeley.

Fiduciary/Other Title I Issues

Mr. Machiz, together with College Fellow Susan Katz Hoffman, mediate employee benefits disputes through their partnership, Justican Mediation, LLC, preferring to mediate as a team to take advantage of their widely divergent perspectives. Their website is at www.justicanmediation.com. Mr. Machiz is also a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator, able to accept court mandated mediations in Florida County and Circuit Courts.