Andrew Stumpff, Butzel Long Photo

Andrew Stumpff is a Shareholder based in Butzel’s Ann Arbor office, practicing in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation law. Mr. Stumpff advises many employers, as well as executives, as to executive compensation and employee benefit plan design and legal compliance matters.

Overview

Andrew Stumpff is a Shareholder based in Butzel’s Ann Arbor office, practicing in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation law. Mr. Stumpff advises employers, as well as executives, as to executive compensation and employee benefit plan design and legal-compliance matters.  In employment-relations disputes and labor negotiations involving employee benefits issues, he confines his practice exclusively to representing labor organizations and employees.

Previously a partner of the New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, Mr. Stumpff has also served as an Assistant Branch Chief in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel – Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations Division, where he helped oversee national employee benefits litigation. Andrew is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and has been named a key individual in Michigan employee benefits/compensation law by Chambers USA. He is a former co-chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section. Andrew teaches Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation at the University of Michigan Law School and at the University of Alabama Law School LL.M in the Taxation program. He has published widely in the benefits field, and is the author of two law school casebooks: "Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation," published in 2011, and "Executive Compensation," published in 2016; and coauthor of a third, Langbein, Pratt, Stabile & Stumpff, "Pension and Employee Benefit Law" published in 2015 (all published by Foundation Press), as well as treatises and numerous articles. Andrew received an A.B. in Mathematics from Washington University in 1983 and a J.D. in 1986 from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as Article Editor of the Michigan Law Review.

Representative matters include:

  • Advised a large multinational retailing company as to cross-border 401(k) and nonqualified retirement plan tax and other implications for expatriate employees;
  • Assisted a Michigan employer in reaching a settlement of financial and insurance fraud claims involving a nonqualified supplemental employee retirement plan (“SERP”);
  • Represented many senior-level executives in negotiating employment agreements, stock option plans and other executive compensation terms;
  • Assisted a Michigan employer in making nonqualified deferred compensation plan corrections in order to comply with Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code;
  • Advised a multi-million dollar retiree healthcare VEBA in reaching a settlement regarding financial obligations of the sponsoring employer;
  • Advised a union in settlement negotiations with an employer, resulting in creation of a new stand-alone retiree medical VEBA trust with several hundred million dollars of assets. Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local Union 494 et al v. UAW, United Stated District Court Case No. 2:14-cv-14868;
  • Served as facilitator/mediator of a successfully resolved dispute involving claims among trustees of and contributors to a jointly trusteed medical benefits plan;
  • Drafted a stock option plan for adoption by a large international corporation;
  • Advised a former executive in reaching a multi-million dollar settlement of a dispute with corporation involving the terms of employee stock options;
  • Assisted numerous companies – both acquirors and sellers – in employee benefits negotiation and due diligence activities associated with corporate mergers and acquisitions;
  • Advised several national and international financial entities as to fiduciary and other legal issues in connection with transactions with Michigan state and municipal governmental plans, including issues arising under Michigan Public Act 314;
  • Assisted limited liability companies and partnerships in drafting profits interest plans for senior executives;
  • Advised a number of companies as to, and drafted, “notional” or “synthetic” equity arrangements for senior executives;
  • Advised several large multinational corporations as to controlled-group analysis and compliance with respect to employee benefit plans under the Internal Revenue Code;
  • Advised an employer with respect to an employee benefits plan audit by the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor;
  • Assisted a Midwestern company in correcting previously filed annual reports (Form 5500) involving rescinded auditors’ reports;
  • Advised the executive of a global entertainment corporation as to Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code and other tax aspects of proposed expatriate compensation arrangement;
  • Advised many companies as to, and assisted in drafting, qualified retirement plan amendments required to maintain qualified status under the Internal Revenue Code;
  • Served as expert witness in several litigated cases involving the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).

Publications (partial list):

BOOKS AND TREATISES:

ARTICLES:

Selected conferences, workshops, symposia, and seminars:

Primary Practice Areas

Credentials

Education

Washington University 1983, A.B.

University of Michigan Law School 1986, J.D.

Memberships

  • Assistant Branch Chief in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel – Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations Division
  • New York State Bar Association Tax Section – Former co-chair

Awards & Recognitions

Awards & Recognitions

Fellow, College of Employee Benefits Counsel

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 

Best Lawyers in America - Lawyer of the Year, Employee Benefits - ERISA Law, 2022

Best Lawyers in America, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2017-2024

Michigan Super Lawyers, Employee Benefits, 2015-2023

DBusiness Top Lawyers in Metro Detroit, Employee Benefits Law, 2016-2018, 2020-2023

News & Events

News

Speaking Engagements

Alerts & Publications

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