Professional Experience
Russ has practiced before the national office and regional offices of the Internal Revenue Service, the national office and district offices of the Department of Labor, and the Social Security Administration. He has testified before the Senate Finance Committee on employee benefit issues and has participated in meetings sponsored by the Department of Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Labor. He was also a Treasury Department Appointee to the ad hoc Committee on Tax Reform Act of 1986 compliance.
Prior to joining the firm, Russ was a partner with Thompson, Hine and Flory for over 18 years and former head of its Employee Benefits Group. In the 1960's, he was a Captain in the U.S. Army. He was on General Westmoreland's legal staff while in Vietnam. After Martin Luther King's assassination, he served on the Hollingsworth Board which investigated the use of the National Guard and reservists in civil disturbances.
Russ lectures on employee benefit and fiduciary liability issues to various professional and nonprofit organizations. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Areas Of Emphasis
- Russ has been an employee benefits specialist since 1970, and has a nationwide practice that includes all aspects of employee benefit plans, including retirement plans, executive deferred, compensation, welfare benefit plans, voluntary employee beneficiary associations (VEBA's-organizations exempt under Section 501(c)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code), and 403(b) tax deferred annuities. This includes plan design, administration, funding methods, qualification of retirement plans, prohibited transactions and fiduciary liability issues, termination of defined benefit plans and their terminal funding, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOP's), multi-employer plans, joint apprenticeship committee programs, and the benefits to which retirees are entitled from private and public systems. He also advises charitable foundations and other tax exempt organizations on tax, fiduciary, and related matters.
- With in-depth knowledge of ERISA and non-ERISA employee benefit matters, Russ assists the firm’s Employee Benefits litigation team in a variety of cases involving claims of breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, self-dealing, denial of benefits and benefits discrimination.
Professional & Community Associations
- American and Ohio State Bar Associations
- International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
- United Way Services - former Vice President and Trustee
- Ohio United Way - former President and Trustee
- Ohio Governor’s Operations Improvement Task Force
- Ohio Advisory Council for the Aging - former Chairman
- University Settlement - former Trustee
Education
The Ohio State University, J.D., 1965
The Ohio State University, B.S. in B.A., 1962
Licensed to Practice
- All Ohio courts
- U.S. District Court (Northern District of Ohio)
- U.S. Supreme Court
Awards & RecognitionsAV rated by Martindale-Hubbell2006-2009: Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers. Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Selected for inclusion in the 2010 edition of Best Lawyers in America, which marks his 15th straight year as a 'Best Lawyer'; Employee Benefits Law 2004 - 2008: Law & Politics Magazine Ohio Super Lawyer: Employee Benefits/ERISA; Non-Profit 2005 - 2006: Listed in the Professional Directory for Foundations |
