Top Employee Benefits Advisor Signs on at DC Law Practice

April 5, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - William Sweetnam, Jr., who recently served as the principal legal advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on employee benefits matters, has joined the Groom Law Group as a principal and Chair of the firm's Public Policy and Legislation Practice Group.

Sweetnam served as Benefits Tax Counsel at the Department of the Treasury from July 2001 until February 2005 (See Benefits Tax Counsel Leaving Treasury ). In that job, he advised the Secretary of the Treasury on all aspects of employee benefits taxation and related matters, including pensions, health care and executive compensation.

Sweetnam was the Treasury’s primary contact with Congress with regard to the IRA and pension provisions in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004, and the Deferred Compensation Provisions of the American Job Creation Act of 2004, the law group said. He also spearheaded the Treasury’s efforts to provide published guidance in major areas such as for Health Savings Accounts and other consumer-directed health care vehicles, the new deferred compensation legislation and 401(k) plans.

Sweetnam is a member of the New York State bar, and received a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University and a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University. He is a member of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.

Groom Law Group practices in all aspects of employee benefits law, including public policy and legislation, fiduciary responsibility, plan design and taxation, health care, litigation, plan funding and restructuring, public and multiemployer plans, and executive compensation, the company said.

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