William H. Powderly

William H. Powderly is an attorney in the firm’s Employee Benefits Practice Group and is listed in Who’s Who as one of the best lawyers in America in the field of ERISA and Employee Benefits. He routinely counsels and defends plan administrators, both corporations and private administrators, on insurance considerations including direct versus self-insurance as well as the insurance laws of various states for multi-office entities. He also advises clients on types of securities, securities laws and foreign laws with respect to property held as part of a plan or distributed as compensation to individuals. He has been involved in litigation directly as well as advising on litigation in various circuit courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill assists clients in creating, maintaining and defending employee benefit plans. He works with businesses to identify and explain the issues surrounding plan compliance. Mr. Powderly has tried over 100 cases throughout the country in the Federal District and Appellate courts on issues of employee benefits law. He has also acted on behalf of Amicus in a number of U.S. Supreme Court cases. Specifically, he has acted in cases dealing with the relationship of state court to the federal system in matters of QDRO in California and Texas, as well as New York & Massachusetts.

His prior experience includes 20 years at Reed Smith, LLP as head of the employee benefits section and 10 years at Jones Day where he was involved with their international employee benefits practice.

Bill has been an instructor at numerous PBA trust training sessions and PBI and ABA-PLI courses throughout the country for a period of over 30 years. He has also been a guest lecturer at several IRS employee benefit courses for field agents. He was recently selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 in the Employee Benefits Law category and has been listed in the directory for 20 consecutive years. He was also named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for Employee Benefits/ERISA Law for 2006 and 2007.

Bill received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

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