Lisa Christensen serves as special counsel in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation group. Her practice focuses on all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation, including reviewing, revising, drafting documents and counseling clients with respect to plan administration and compliance with all applicable federal laws and state laws (including, but not limited to, requirements under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), Medicare and/or Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)) relevant to employee benefit plans. Lisa regularly consults with clients on various correction methodologies when errors are discovered in qualified retirement plans, welfare benefit plans, fringe benefit arrangements and executive compensation arrangements.
Typical projects include reviewing, revising and negotiating services agreements with vendors; reviewing, revising and negotiating HIPAA business associate agreements (and other compliance materials), and counseling clients (both covered entities and business associates) regarding application of HIPAA privacy and security requirements; counseling ERISA plan fiduciaries as to cybersecurity responsibilities in connection with employee benefits; drafting change in control, severance, retention bonus, equity incentive, and executive employment agreements, and counseling clients on IRC Section 409A corrections in connection with same; and assisting with all benefits-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions.
With respect to cybersecurity and data privacy, Lisa counsels clients on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance, drafts compliance manuals and regularly conducts on-site and web-based training for multiple interested stakeholders across all business sectors on GDPR, HIPAA and other applicable privacy laws (foreign and domestic), as well as general data hygiene.
