ERISA Attorney Ian Lanoff Remembered as ‘Icon’ in Retirement Industry

Ian Lanoff, former principal at Groom Law Group, Chartered, and prolific leader in the retirement industry, passed away on September 29 at age 82.

Lanoff had a long career in both public service and private practice. While serving as the administrator for pension and welfare benefit programs the Department of Labor during the Carter Administration, Lanoff played an important role in the implementation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and his work laid the foundation for decades of jurisprudence, according to Groom Law Group.

As an attorney, Lanoff also represented some of the nation’s largest public and private benefit programs, helping to protect the benefits for millions of workers and retirees, according to those that worked with him.

Michael Kreps, principal at Groom Law, said Lanoff had a “truly remarkable life.”

“But Ian’s professional achievements pale in comparison to the impact he had on the lives of his friends and colleagues,” Kreps said via email. “Ian loved working with young lawyers and had a knack for seeing the potential in people. He always wanted to make sure the people coming up behind him had opportunities. Ian played a major role in my life and the lives of hundreds of other people. His memory will live on.”

Lanoff started his career as a labor attorney and represented the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He then transitioned to benefits law when he became the general counsel of the United Mineworkers Health and Retirement Fund.

From there, Lanoff went on to serve as counsel for the Senate Labor Committee (now Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) and one of the first administrators of the Department of Labor’s Pension and Welfare Benefit Program, which is now the Employee Benefits Security Administration. He joined Groom Law in 1996 and retired a few years ago.

While at the DOL, Groom Law’s Kreps said Lanoff played a central role in the development of ERISA Title I principles that are still in effect today, such as the “everything being equal” test and the power-sharing agreement between the IRS and the DOL—also known as the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978.

Louis Mazawey, also a principal at Groom Law, says Lanoff’s career was multi-dimensional, as he started on the labor side, working on Capitol Hill, and then later working in benefits law. Mazawey adds that Lanoff was the main architect of the basic prudence regulation that now requires fiduciaries to make prudent decisions, follow the right processes and seek the right advice—a regulation that is long-standing and continues to be foundational today.

“He had a great practice with Taft-Hartley plans, union plans, public plans… He was the chief adviser to the board of some larger governmental plans in the country, [and] he had participated in the boards of various public interest groups,” Mazawey says. “I think it’s unique… that he had influence in all those areas.”

Fran Parker, the retired executive director of the United Auto Workers Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, worked with Lanoff in 2010 to start the largest non-governmental purchaser of retiree health care in the U.S. Lanoff was the counsel chosen by the trustees and provided guidance when implementing and creating the trust.

“His guidance was incredible and valuable,” Parker says. “His sole purpose, I believe, was in helping to educate, inform and ensure that the trust, the trust employees and our board were aware of what their fiduciary responsibilities were. He also helped to guide us in terms of policies, procedures and things that were important under ERISA, but also in terms of the protection afforded [to] the retirees… He was truly an icon.”

Lanoff also served on the board of directors for the Pension Rights Center with executive director Karen Friedman.

“Ian was an incredible friend and colleague,” Friedman said in an email. “As a long-time Pension Rights Center board member, he brought his extensive expertise – gained from working as a top Department of Labor official and representing public and private plans – to every discussion we had, offering his insights and strategic advice. He also was warm, witty and generous. He will be sorely missed.”

Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, said she worked with Lanoff for 30 years.

“You don’t know many people with a DOL letter named after them, and Ian’s fame stemmed from Ian’s passion,” Ghilarducci said in an email, referencing the “Lanoff letter.” “Ian was passionate about ‘trust’ and what trust means. For 30 years I worked with him, he would cite case law and horrific stories of people violating trust when they were managing other people’s money. I wouldn’t be the good trustee and fiduciary I am now without Ian looking me straight in the eye and saying, ‘remember it’s their money!’”