The Knowledge & Experience to Take You Further
James M. Delaplane, Jr.
Partner
Since joining Davis & Harman LLP as a partner in 2002, Jamey has represented a broad range of financial institutions, employers and public policy organizations on employee benefits, tax and financial services matters before the U.S. Congress and the federal executive branch agencies. A retirement and savings policy specialist, Jamey devotes particular time to legislation and regulation affecting defined benefit and defined contribution plans, IRAs and 529 college savings plans. Jamey coordinates a number of employer coalitions, including one focused on hybrid defined benefit plan policy and one focused on the tax treatment of domestic partner health benefits. He is a frequent keynote speaker at national retirement industry conferences who is sought after to provide insight regarding what Washington developments will mean for retirement plan sponsors and service providers.
"Retirement policy is a compelling mix of law, finance and social policy," says Jamey Delaplane. "The field involves me and my clients in a fascinating set of investment, financial and business issues but ones that are very concrete and meaningful in the lives of individual Americans."
From 1998 to 2002, Jamey was Vice President, Retirement Policy for the American Benefits Council (ABC), which is the national association representing the employee benefits interests of major U.S. employers. At ABC, Jamey oversaw the development of policy concerning retirement, equity compensation and investment issues and served as chief lobbyist and media spokesperson on those issues. While at ABC, he helped lead the coalition that pushed for enactment of the pension and retirement savings provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) and worked extensively on cash balance plan issues with Congress and the federal regulatory agencies. He now serves as Special Counsel to ABC and has testified before Congress on its behalf.
Jamey worked as legislative counsel to U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-North Dakota) from 1996 to 1998, where he was the chief staff person on retirement, health and related tax matters. He was instrumental in helping Representative Pomeroy draft and advance the Retirement Account Portability Act, many of the provisions of which became law in 2001 as part of EGTRRA. During the summer of 1997, Jamey was detailed to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, where he served as the key transition aide to the incoming Executive Director.
Jamey’s legal and policy work has been widely recognized. He has been named by 401kWire as one of the 100 most influential people in the defined contribution plan industry for four years running (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). In 2002, Business Insurance named him one of 35 "Rising Stars" in the commercial insurance and benefits management industry. In 1998, Pensions & Investments recognized him as one of the "25 People to Watch" in the pension and investment community—the only federal government official among those named.
Jamey earned his B.A. and J.D., both cum laude, from Harvard University, and was an editor of the Journal on Legislation during law school. Prior to law school, he spent two years as part of the initial start-up team for Teach for America, the non-profit national teacher corps that recruits recent college graduates to teach in urban and rural public schools that suffer from persistent teacher shortages.
Jamey is an avid downhill skier.
Prior Experience
- Vice President, Retirement Policy, American Benefits Council
- Legislative Counsel, U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-North Dakota)
- Member, Transition Team for the incoming Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
- Attorney, Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Madison Shaw Pittman)
Memberships
- District of Columbia Bar
- Pennsylvania Bar
The Willard 1455 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
, Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20004 Tel 202-347-2230
Fax 202-393-3310
Education
- BA, cum laude, Harvard University, 1989
- JD, cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1995
- Editor, Journal on Legislation
Recent Publications
and Presentations
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