|
Note: The number in parentheses ( ) indicates semester hours of credit.
Required Courses:
Introduction to Legal Analysis (1) IT 805
This course introduces non-legally trained students to the workings of the legal system, legal methods (including research techniques), and the process of legal education. (Open only to M.S. students. Must be taken concurrently with Substantive Law Overview.)
Substantive Law Overview (2) IT 800
This course introduces non-legally trained students to the basic substantive areas of law. Policy considerations as well as legal issue spotting will be emphasized. (Open only to M.S. students. Must be taken concurrently with Introduction to Legal Analysis.)
Survey of Executive Compensation Plans (2) EB 365
This survey course is intended to provide an overview of the framework of rules governing nonqualified executive compensation, with primary focus on the tax, legal, financial, and accounting issues that specifically impact such arrangements. Funding vehicles such as “rabbi” and secular trusts are discussed. Advanced coverage of executive compensation plans will be addressed in EB 369 (Executive Compensation Benefits: Advanced).
Prerequisite: Individual Income Tax; Recommended: Taxation of Corporations
Survey of Retirement Plan Issues (3) EB 360
This course will survey the labor, employment, and tax rules affecting employee pension and profit sharing plans. By providing an overview of the framework of rules governing such plans, students will learn the basic tax, legal, business, and other issues that specifically affect retirement plans and participants' rights under such plans. The course will also discuss other types of employee benefit plans, such as health and welfare plans and executive compensation plans.
Survey of Welfare Plan Issues (2) EB 363
This basic survey course is intended to provide fundamental familiarity with welfare benefit plans. It examines the wide variety of Code provisions governing welfare benefit plans, namely short- and long-term disability income plans, dependent care and family leave, medical and dental plans, death benefit coverage, unemployment compensation, and others. Topics such as flexible benefit plans and flexible spending accounts which provide tax shelters for such welfare benefits will also be discussed.
Prerequisite: Individual Income Tax
Tax & Employee Benefits Research (2) TX 333
This course acquaints students with the large amount of research materials available in the tax and employee benefits areas and develops their skills in researching issues through the effective use of these materials. Primary and secondary sources will be examined in depth. Emphasis will be placed on researching judicial decisions, legislative histories, and administrative rulings. The course will also develop skills in using computerized research tools. No final examination will be given. Student evaluations will be based on various research assignments.
Elective Courses:
Cash or Deferred Arrangements (2) EB 354
This course examines the design and administration of cash and deferred plans (also known as 401(k) plans), SIMPLE/IRA plans, SIMPLE/401(k) plans, SEPs, 403(b) plans and 457 plans. In determining whether to implement a cash and deferred arrangement, all of the various arrangements will be discussed. Once in place, the ongoing administration of such plans, including annual testing, use of plan loans, investment of plan assets, fiduciary issues, QDRO procedures and reporting and disclosure requirements will be highlighted. Unique uses of cash and deferred arrangements with ESOPs and in executive compensation contexts will also be analyzed.
Prerequisites: Fundamentals I and II of Retirement Plan Issues
Contemporary Benefit Issues (2) EB 367
This course is intended for the tax practitioner who is well-versed in employee benefits law and wishes to keep abreast of timely issues that affect employee benefit plans. Current topics may include IRS/DOL compliance and audit programs, estate tax planning distributions, fiduciary litigation, and the impact of other federal laws on employee benefit plans (e.g., HIPPA, COBRA, and FMLA).
Prerequisite: Fundamentals I of Retirement Plan Issues
DOL Externship Program (3-4) EB 393
Students selected to participate in this program work with the attorneys at the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Chicago Regional Office. The educational objectives of this course include practical experience in employee benefits law, development of research, writing and drafting skills, and preparation of memoranda, discovery documents, guidelines to assist pension investigators and auditors.
Prerequisites: Fundamentals I and II of Retirement Plan Issues
Employee Benefits Litigation (2) EB 358
This advanced course examines the litigation aspects of controversies and claims involving pension and retirement plans, health and medical plans, and other employee fringe benefit plans. The course covers all aspects of claims, defenses, pleadings, discovery, motions, trial and settlement approaches used in employee benefits litigation and dispute resolution. It is designed for attorneys handling litigation involving employee benefit plans and presumes a working knowledge of ERISA and the qualification requirements for various employee benefits plans under the Internal Revenue Code.
Prerequisites: Survey of Retirement Plan Issues or Survey of Welfare Plan Issues
Employee Benefits Practice and Procedure (2) EB 357
This course examines the federal administration of employee benefit plans under the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA, including requests for determination letters, private letter rulings, technical advice, preparation and filing of annual returns, audit procedures, administrative appeals, funding deficiencies, tax penalties and statute of limitations. Preparation of a determination letter request and plan amendments for a qualified retirement plan will be required.
Prerequisite: Fundamentals I of Retirement Plan Issues
ERISA Fiduciary Law (2) EB 356
This course is designed to be a practical study of the fundamental structure of fiduciary responsibility under ERISA: the requisites for fiduciary status, the statutory bases of specific duties and prohibitions, and issues surrounding the management of plan assets. Timely topics, such as participant-directed investments and the evolving duty of disclosure, will also be discussed.
Prerequisites: Survey of Retirement Plan Issues and Estates and Trusts I
ESOPs (1) 355
This course focuses on the use of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) as employee benefit plans, tools of corporate finance, and ownership succession strategies. The course will address tax consequences of establishing and maintaining such plans, as well as securities, accounting and fiduciary issues. Use of ESOPs in leveraged transactions, by Subchapter S corporations, and in conjunction with cash and deferred arrangements (KSOPs) will be examined.
Prerequisites: Fundamentals I and II of Retirement Plan Issues
Executive Compensation Benefits: Advanced (2) EB 369
This course will be a continuation of EB 365, intended for the practitioner who wishes to specialize further in executive compensation. Various types of equity-based compensation plans and related securities law issues, change of control arrangements, executive compensation for multinationals and tax-exempts, and the uses of insurance in the executive compensation package will all be discussed. Where applicable, lectures will be supplemented with sample contracts and plans.
Prerequisite: Survey of Executive Compensation Plans
Fundamentals I of Retirement Plan Issues (3) EB 361
This course and EB 362 provide an in-depth examination of the rules governing retirement plans "qualified" under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Intended for the practitioner who wishes to specialize in this area, the course covers design, qualification, funding, and the administration of employee retirement plans, with emphasis on compliance with the requirements of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.
Prerequisite: Survey of Retirement Plan Issues or equivalent knowledge
Fundamentals II of Retirement Plan Issues (3) EB 362
This course is a continuation of EB 361, intended for the practitioner who wishes to specialize further in employee benefits. It continues an in-depth examination of retirement plan issues, including such topics as controlled group rules, fiduciary requirements, determination letters and correction procedures, deductibility limits, distribution requirements, and hybrid retirement plans. Where applicable, plan and trust documents will be discussed.
Graduate Seminar: Employee Benefits Law (2) EB 368
Students will take an in-depth look at fifteen timely employee benefits topics, presented by experts in the field. Grades are based on short page papers and participation in seminar discussions.
Prerequisite: Fundamentals I & II of Retirement Plan Issues
Independent Study (1-3) EB 394
Research on an issue of employee benefits law and formation of an original idea in connection with that issue, culminating in a written work of publishable quality.
International Employee Benefits (1) EB 388
This course is intended to familiarize the practitioner with issues arising from the use of employee benefit plans in the international context. Such plans include a variety of deferred compensation arrangements, including qualified pension, profit sharing, stock bonus and ESOPs, as well as nonqualified plans, individual deferral arrangements and stock-based purchase plan. The tax effects of such plans on the U.S. employer, as well as the employee of a multinational company will be discussed.
Prerequisites: Fundamentals I and II of Retirement Plan Issues
Specialized Employee Benefit Plans (2) EB 366
Intended for the tax practitioner who has a firm foundation of the rules governing retirement plans, this course examines the additional tax rules applicable to specialized retirement plans. Specialized plans discussed include cash and deferred arrangements, state and local governmental plans, tax-deferred annuity plans, multi-employer plans, foreign pension plans, ESOPs, IRAs and SIMPLEs, retirement plans for small businesses and the self-employed, cash balance plans and target benefit plans. Drafting of plan documents will also be discussed.
Prerequisite: Fundamentals I of Retirement Plan Issues
Welfare Benefit Plans: Tax, Legal & Design Issues (2) EB 364
This course goes beyond the basic survey course of EB 363 and examines the specific tax, legal and design rules affecting welfare benefit plans, including flexible benefit plans and flexible spending accounts. Also discussed are the various insurance and self-insured funding instruments, including Section 501(c)(9) trusts, that are used in connection with these benefits. Timely topics, such as post-retirement medical benefits for retirees and long-term care, are also discussed.
Prerequisite: Survey of Welfare Plan Issues
|
