Dan S. Brandenburg

Shareholder, Director and Principal

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202.638.2241
202.293.3419

Professional Background

Dan S. Brandenburg has worked with SS&B since 1973, developing legal expertise concerning pension and welfare plans, executive compensation (including stock-based plans and plans for tax-exempt organizations), executive employment matters, HIPAA compliance, and taxation of exempt organizations. Mr. Brandenburg has substantial experience with employee benefits and executive compensation for tax-exempt entities and with association-sponsored member service programs, representing either employers or individuals. He deals regularly with the IRS, DOL and PBGC. He assists clients in performing internal compliance audits, utilizing IRS and DOL voluntary compliance programs, and responding to audits and investigations by IRS, DOL and PBGC. In the estate planning arena, he focuses particularly on matters of business succession and taxation.

Mr. Brandenburg’s experience extends beyond the daily practice of law. He also contributes to publications and makes presentations on employee benefits law. He is a member of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) Cafeteria Plan Technical Advisors Council, and ECFC’s Charter Class of professionals Certified in Flexible Compensation Instruction (CFCI 1999). He is an active member of the American Bar Association, serving as Liaison on Small Business Issues of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA Section of Taxation (2007-2008, 2006-2007, 2001-2002), and Chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA Trial, Torts and Insurance Practice Section (2000-2001, 1990-1991). He is a member of the Planning Committee for the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Area Employee Benefits Conference, a member of the Mid-Atlantic Pension Liaison Group of the office of Employee Plans under the IRS Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division, and a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel. Mr. Brandenburg served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Graduate Law Division (1981-1983).

Representative Client Matters

  • Advice to US subsidiary of an international company phasing out its US production facility and resolving legacy plans, including establishing a retiree-run VEBA to administer retiree medical benefits.
  • Advice to ESOP selling its 100% owned business.
  • Representation of US subsidiary of an internationally-owned company appearing in a series of transactions before the PBGC.
  • Counsel to US company reviewing its defined benefit pension plan and considering whether to freeze or terminate the plan.
  • Counsel to US company terminating its defined benefit pension plan and redesigning and improving its 401(k) plan.
Professional Organiziations
  • American Bar Association (Taxation Section, Employee Benefits Committee; Trial, Torts and Insurance Practice Section, Employee Benefits Committee)
  • Bar Association of District of Columbia (Taxation Section, Employee Benefits Committee)
Bar Admissions
  • District of Columbia (1975)
Court Admissions
  • US District Court for the District of Columbia
Education
  • Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M. Taxation, 1978)
  • Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1975)
  • Rutgers University (B.S. Industrial Engineering and B.A. German, 1972)

Honors

  • The Best Lawyers in America, Employee Benefits Law (Woodward/White, 2008 Edition)
  • Super Lawyers, Employee Benefits Attorneys (Washington DC, 2008 Edition)
  • AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell

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