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Fritz Richter has been practicing exclusively in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation for over 20 years. He advises a large number of clients on the design, implementation and administration of all types of employee benefit plans and compensation arrangements, including the following:

401(k) plans;
ESOPs;
403(b) annuities;
457 plans;
Profit sharing plans;
Pension plans (including cash balance plans);
Nonqualified plans and arrangements (including Section 409As, SERPs, equity-based plans, golden parachute agreements, rabbi trusts and split-dollar arrangements);
Employee stock purchase plans;
Multiemployer and other collectively bargained plans;
Health and other welfare plans (including Healthcare Reform, COBRA and HIPAA issues);
Cafeteria plans (including health and dependent care flexible spending accounts) and;
HSAs and HRAs.

Mr. Richter has extensive experience counseling clients on employee benefits issues arising in connection with mergers, acquisitions and other business transactions. Another significant part of his practice is representing clients on employee benefit matters involving the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, especially in litigation and other disputes, plan audits and IRS and DOL plan correction programs. He also advises clients on a wide variety of related matters such as executive compensation, ERISA litigation and fiduciary responsibility issues.

Mr. Richter received a Bachelor of Science from the Calloway School of Business at Wake Forest University and graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law, where he was a member of the Wake Forest Law Review. He also earned a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

Before joining Bass, Berry & Sims in 1995, Mr. Richter was with the Internal Revenue Service Employee Plans and Chief Counsel's Offices in Washington, D.C., where he was involved in significant employee benefits regulatory, compliance and litigation matters. While at the IRS, Mr. Richter was a member of the team that started the Employee Plans Correction Resolution System (EPCRS). He also practiced for four years with a major law firm in Washington, D.C. and, before that, served as an active duty officer with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Mr. Richter is active in the American Bar Association as a member of the Employee Benefits Committee, where he serves on subcommittees dealing with 401(k) plans, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation and defined benefit plans. He is a member of the Nashville, Tennessee and District of Columbia Bar Associations, the Southern Employee Benefits Council, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, the ESOP Association and the Middle Tennessee Employee Benefits Council. Mr. Richter is on the Advisory Board of Editors of Benefits & Compensation Law Alert and the Board of Contributors of Benefits & Compensation Law for Nonprofits. He frequently writes on employee benefits and executive compensation topics and has spoken before numerous organizations and groups on employee benefits topics, including the Southern Employee Benefits Council, ALI-ABA and the ESOP Association. He is listed in both the Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers®. Mr. Richter is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.