J. Brian McTigue

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Prior to private practice, Mr. McTigue was counsel to committees of the United States House of Representatives and Senate.  His legislative work included investigations and legislation pertaining to federal pension law and pension fund investment. 

As a Senate Legal Counsel for Special Projects, Mr. McTigue was responsible for initiating the first legislative proposal, in 1996, to reduce the percentage of Company Stock permitted in the portfolios of 401(k) and similar defined contribution pension plans.  The bill represented the first congressional recognition of problems with the typical pension plan of the baby boom generation.   Although opposed by many employers and employer groups, several of the concepts embodied in the bill became law.  Mr. McTigue has since assisted congressional offices with draft legislation which would give ERISA fiduciary breach claims greater protection when companies sponsoring plans file for bankruptcy.  

Mr. McTigue’s congressional investigation of Michael Milken, the investment banking house of Drexel Burham Lambert and the junk bond market was a basis for FDIC v. Milken, et al. brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which settled for $1.3 billion.  He spearheaded congressional investigations involving the takeovers of corporations with over-funded pension plans.  This included an investigation of the takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company, the termination of Pacific Lumber’s pension plan, and the use of Pacific Lumber’s “excess” pension plan assets by the acquirer.  The investigations also probed the funding of whole pension plans with a risky annuities issued by the California’s Executive Life Insurance Company.  When Executive Life later became insolvent, this, in turn, threatened the solvency of the pension plans.  The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federal government agency which insured the funds, then asked Mr. McTigue to assist it.  This was followed by a plethora of private class actions and U. S. Department of Labor litigation alleging violations of federal pension law, Congressional passage of the Pension Annuitants Protection Act, and the Labor Department’s adoption of stronger standards for pension plan annuities.

Prior to his legislative work, Mr. McTigue was an investigative reporter and television news producer for ABC and NBC News.  His investigative reporting was awarded Emmys and a George Polk Award.  Mr. McTigue is a graduate of Notre Dame and the Golden Gate University Law School, San Francisco, California.  Mr. McTigue is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the State Bar of California.  He is also a member of the Bars of the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia, Northern District of California, and the Eastern District of Michigan.  Mr. McTigue is from Fort Dodge, Iowa.