The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, Inc. Announces Opening of 2024 Nominations for New Fellows

The qualifications for membership are:

1. No individual will be considered for the 2024 Induction Class if he or she had not been admitted to practice as of December 31, 2004. As of December 31, 2024, the individual must have at least 20 years’ experience as an employee benefits practitioner following admission to the practice of law, in the private sector (including law firm, in‑house corporate, tax-exempt organization or consulting), government or academic setting.
   
2. The individual’s professional time will have been spent primarily in the area of employee benefits; that usually will mean the individual will have performed (1) at least some employee benefits law work in each of the minimum of 20 years of practice, and (2) the total amount of work in employee benefits law over the minimum of 20 years of practice averages at least 50%. While benefits-related matters are unlikely to occupy more than half of the time of a full-time professional arbitrator/mediator, such an individual would be eligible for consideration as a Fellow if he or she has a special focus on and expertise in employee benefit issues and is well regarded among benefits practitioners for work in the employee benefits area. For those in academia, the individual must teach and write at least 50% of the time in the field of employee benefits. In order to count a judicial clerkship towards the 20 years of experience, you must have been involved in at least one employee benefits matter during your clerkship. In addition, if an individual is employed less than full-time, but meets the above criteria, the individual will be eligible.
   
3. The individual has consistently exhibited exemplary character and ethical behavior.
   
4. The individual has demonstrated a “sustained commitment” to the development and pursuit of public awareness and understanding of the law of employee benefits, through such activities as writing, speaking, participating in public policy analysis, public education or public service and representation projects, and leadership in the employee benefits activities of bar associations or other professional organizations. Such activities do not include client or law firm or employer centered seminars and papers developed solely for client or law firm or employer use (these activities will be disregarded fully in measuring a nominee’s “sustained commitment”). The activities must be sustained over the course of the individual’s career. We suggest that the individual list as many activities as possible along with specific details or an explanation of the scope of involvement [including, as applicable, date, title, publication, organization, and, if not evident from the title of the presentation or paper, a summary of the topic and subject matter (this could apply, for example, where the title of the presentation is merely “Employee Benefits Update”)]. We strongly encourage nominees to provide a detailed history of their activities for at least 10 years. We caution nominees that providing information for less than 10 years or information that lacks specificity is very likely to be insufficient.
   
5. The individual is generally recognized by his or her peers for expertise in the benefits field and intellectual excellence.
   

To be considered for induction at the College’s Annual Induction Ceremony, to be held on September 14, 2024, at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Primary Sponsoring Nominator MUST deliver electronically to Howard Shapiro, Nominations Committee Chair (at BOTH [email protected] AND [email protected]), by June 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m. P.D.T., the following:

• Two copies of the Nomination Form with all attachments to the form (in a single document) in a PDF version and a Word version; and
• The nominee’s “bio” for the College’s website in a separate Word document with the Nomination Form.

Nomination forms, procedures and rules are posted on the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, Inc.’s website at www.acebc.com.