Ashley Malina

Haynes and Boone, LLP, is a large law firm based in Dallas with 19 offices worldwide. Benefits administrator Melanie Swenson nominated Malina for making its complicated plans run smoothly. The firm’s 401(k) and profit-sharing plans are separate, but they sit under a master trust and are treated as a single balance for participants.

“Our plans all have custom documents and include some tricky provisions,” says Swenson. “Not only does Ashley handle everything with ease, but she also regularly brings forward ideas to help improve the plan for participants and for administration. We also seem to have special projects all the time. She deftly takes on the additional work, makes sure I have everything I need, and keeps me on track so everything is completed ahead of schedule.”

The 401(k) has more than 1,500 participants, including attorneys and staff, and a participation rate of 98%. Malina started working with Haynes and Boone when they converted to Charles Schwab, which serves as trustee, custodian and recordkeeper. They won an Eddy award for their communications to participants during the transition.

“The 401(k) and profit-sharing plans have unique provisions that I don’t see very often, so I’ve created custom processes that I track,” says Malina. For example, they don’t allow changes to deferral rate for a period near the end of the year when they’re working to coordinate the payouts for the partners, she says.

The firm also deals with the complexities of summer associates temporarily moving in and out of the plan. “We have a fairly large class of summer associates each year who are eligible to participate in the 401(k),” says Swenson. “Many of these individuals return as fall associates in the future, and so we have a large group of rehires each fall. Ashley works to ensure that the group is immediately reactivated on Schwab’s website so they can enroll right away and don’t have any delays due to rehire dates processing on file feeds.”

Malina also set up a financial education campaign during open enrollment where participants can click on a link or use a QR code to schedule a one-on-one appointment at no extra cost. Many who sign up are new participants or those nearing retirement. Not only do the meetings help participants, but they also help Malina focus their communication strategy based on questions they receive.

Swenson also praised Malina for her work when the firm’s defined benefit plan that had been closed and frozen offered a lump sum window this summer. “Ashley and her team took on an extraordinary amount of work to ensure participants were receiving their payments,” she says. “We deeply appreciate her work.”