Seasoned ERISA Lawyer Patricia Beaty Joins Ogletree Deakins in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS – January 20, 2015 – Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins), one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management, is pleased to welcome Patricia Beaty as a shareholder in the firm’s Indianapolis office. Beaty joins Ogletree Deakins from Krieg DeVault LLP, where she was a partner and member of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation team. Beaty brings to Ogletree Deakins a comprehensive employee benefits practice that includes a depth of experience in ERISA compliance and litigation. Her arrival bolsters the capabilities of Ogletree Deakins’ Employee Benefits Practice Group, which includes 10 attorneys in Indiana and 56 attorneys firm wide. With the arrival of Beaty, Ogletree Deakins now has 40 Indiana-based lawyers.

Beaty has practiced employment law for nearly 15 years and focuses her practice in the area of employee benefits and executive compensation. She has experience in the design, implementation, and administration of single employer and multiemployer defined benefit plans, as well as money purchase, profit sharing, stock bonus, employee stock ownership, performance, non-qualified deferred compensation, 401(k) and 403(b) plans, Section 125 “cafeteria” plans, and voluntary employees’ beneficiary association trusts (VEBAs). Beaty also has experience in auditing plans for compliance failures and represents her clients before the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor on a range of issues, including audits by both agencies and correction of operational failures under the Internal Revenue Service Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System and fiduciary issues under the Department of Labor’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program. She regularly assists clients with fiduciary compliance under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and compliance with COBRA and HIPAA. Beaty regularly works with new comparability or “cross tested” plans, cash balance plans, and recent legislation affecting all aspects of employee benefits.

“We have long sought to add a key player in our employee benefits and executive compensation group who has a depth of experience, fits our model, and shares our client service culture,” said Todd Kaiser, managing shareholder of Ogletree Deakins’ Indianapolis office. “We have found all in Patricia and enthusiastically welcome her to Ogletree Deakins.”  

Beaty is very active in the employee benefits legal community. She is a certified employee benefit specialist (CEBS), member of the American Bar Association Committee on Employee Benefits, and past chairperson for the Indiana Benefits Conference. Beaty earned her J.D. from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

About Ogletree Deakins
Ogletree Deakins is one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. The firm has more than 700 lawyers located in 47 offices across the United States, in Europe, and in Mexico. Ogletree Deakins has been named a Law Firm of the Year four consecutive years by U.S. News – Best Lawyers^® “Best Law Firms.” In 2015, the publication named Ogletree Deakins its “Law Firm of the Year” in the Labor Law – Management category. In addition to handling labor and employment law matters, the firm has thriving practices focused on business immigration, employee benefits, and workplace safety and health law. Ogletree Deakins represents a diverse range of clients, from small businesses to Fortune 50 companies.