Profile

Brian is co-chair of the firm's tax practice. With more than 35 years of experience, he concentrates his practice on collectively bargained and multiemployer plans, church plans, tax sheltered annuity and deferred compensation plans for tax exempt organizations; estate and income tax planning for qualified retirement plans and IRAs; trusts and estates; tax and corporate law; and qualified domestic relations orders and qualified medical child support orders.

Brian was an adjunct law professor at Syracuse University teaching Deferred Compensation and an adjunct professor teaching Trusts and Estates for almost 20 years.

  • Listed in:
    • The Best Lawyers in America®, Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Tax Law, 2008-2025 (listed for more than 15 years)
      • Lawyer of the Year (Syracuse), Tax Law, 2017; 2019; 2021
      • Lawyer of the Year (Syracuse),  Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, 2015; 2017; 2020
    • New York Super Lawyers®, Employee Benefits, 2024
    • Martindale-Hubbell®, AV Preeminent Rated
  • Fellow, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
  • American Bar Association, Labor Law Section, Employee Benefits Committee
  • New York State Bar Association, Trusts and Estates Law Section, Insurance and Pension Committee; Former Chair, Life Insurance and Employee Benefits Committee
  • Strathmore's Who's Who, 2010 Professional of the Year for Employee Benefits Law

  • IRA Planning Under the Required Minimum Distribution Rules, Central New York Accounting & Financial Women's Alliance, November 22, 2019
  • Pension Protection Act and Withdrawal Liability, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, September 2018
  • The Growing Employer Liabilities Associated with Participating in Collectively Bargained Multiemployer Pension Funds, Bond Statewide Pension Fund Seminar, January 2017
  • Bond's Statewide Pension Fund Seminar, Fall 2016
  • Multiemployer Pension Plans Strategy, Client Presentation, August 2016
  • The New Funding Rules Under the Pension Protection Act -- Hidden Employer Liabilities and Negotiation Strategies and Withdrawal Liability Under ERISA, Bond/Harbridge Statewide Pension Fund Seminar, June 2012
  • Financial Exposure Under the Pension Protection Act, FASB Disclosure Requirements and Withdrawal and Mass Withdrawal Liability Issues
  • Mass Withdrawal from Distressed Pension Plans, Iron Workers Attorneys Conference, April 2010
  • Pension Protection Act -- Collective Bargaining from the Employer's Standpoint, North American Iron Workers 2010 IMPACT Labor-Management Conference, February 2010
  • Marital Issues -- Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, New York State Bar Association, September 2008

  • Board member, Hope for Bereaved, Inc.