Cheryl Risley Hughes

Principal

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202.638.2241
202.293.3419

Professional Background

Cheryl Risley Hughes has been with Sanders Schnabel & Brandenburg PC since 1995. She has developed expertise in the areas of health and welfare plans, qualified retirement plans and executive compensation. She is a nationally-recognized author and speaker on consumer-driven health plans and other health and welfare plans. She gives frequent presentations to legal and industry groups concerned with health and welfare plans, including lectures at Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) seminars. She also contributes regularly to legal publications. Ms. Hughes is a member of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) Cafeteria Plan Technical Advisors Council.

Representative Client Matters

  • Counsel to US-based defense contractor with regard to employee benefit matters in acquisition by a global business services company based in the United Kingdom in a $215 million transaction.
  • Lobbied Treasury and IRS regarding electronic payment card issues for health and transportation plans.
  • Assisted high-profile organization in making numerous corrections involving hundreds of participants due to operational failures over a series of years under the client’s qualified plans.
  • Counsel to employers and third party administrators in transitions to consumer-drive health, including health savings accounts (HSAs).
  • Advise employers on day-to-day employee benefit plan compliance and operational issues.
  • Trustee to law firm profit sharing plan.
Professional Organizations
  • American Bar Association (Taxation Section, Employee Benefits Committee)
  • Bar Association of District of Columbia (Taxation Section, Employee Benefits Committee)
  • New York State Bar Association (Taxation Section, Employee Benefits Committee)
  • Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Publications
  • Cafeteria Plans
    Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) Reference Manual
    Contributing Author
    2000-2003
  • Consumer Driven Health Plans
    EBIA Reference Manual
    Contributing Author
    2004-Present
  • Fringe Benefits
    EBIA Reference Manual
    Contributing Author
    2006-Present
Bar Admissions
  • District of Columbia (1996)
  • New York (1996)
Education
  • Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M. Taxation, Certificate
    of Study in Employee Benefits Law, 1996);  Thesis: Non-discrimination Rules for Welfare Plans: Recommendations for Simplification
  • Ohio State University College of Law (J.D. cum laude, 1995); Chief Managing Editor, The Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution; Public Service Fellow, US Department of Justice
  • State University of New York, College at Geneseo (B.A. Political Science, 1991)

Honors

  • Marquis Who’s Who in American Law (2007), Who’s Who of American Women (2007), Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders (2007)  

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