Rory Judd Albert is the immediate past co-chair of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group. Rory also previously served as a co-chair of Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Law Department as well as on the Firm’s Executive and Advisory Committees.
The diversity of Rory's clients runs the gamut, including:
As merely one example of his national reputation, Rory was retained as outside legal counsel to the independent fiduciaries charged with responsibility for completing, on behalf of a six billion dollar national pension plan, one of the largest hotel and convention center projects in the nation – The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa (in South Florida). This was a very complex legal project – involving an investment of nearly $800 million in pension plan assets – that implicated virtually every aspect of ERISA. Rory led a team of Proskauer lawyers from our Corporate, Employee Benefits, Lodging & Gaming, Labor & Employment, Litigation, Real Estate and Tax Groups, spanning across three of Proskauer’s offices, in bringing this sophisticated project to a successful conclusion.
Although Rory has been widely recognized as a driving force within the employee benefits legal community during the past quarter-century, he recently garnered several prestigious accolades in this area, including receiving for the past several years a coveted “Second Tier”ranking from Chambers USA, which has described him as “truly a trailblazer” and as “a bright intellectual who offers practicality to his clients, all of whom benefit from his excellent judgment.” In the 2008 edition of Chambers, clients commented to its editors that Rory possesses a “great breadth of knowledge and is adept at handling complex situations where competing viewpoints need reconciling.” The Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group also garnered a “Second Tier”ranking byChambers, which praises the Group as having “deep expertise” in employee benefits and as “a great resource to bounce ideas off, with a great talent base of extremely knowledgeable, responsive and no-nonsense lawyers.”
Rory is a prolific author and speaker, having published dozens of articles, and lectured before numerous organizations throughout the country, on various employee benefits law, investment and fiduciary responsibility issues. He also has authored several major legal treatises, including The ERISA Fiduciary Answer Book and The Trustees Handbook, as well as numerous articles for the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans' Employee Benefits Digest. While an undergraduate student at M.I.T., Rory authored a treatise on police unionism in Boston, Massachusetts, titled A Time for Reform: A Case Study of the Boston Police Department (M.I.T. Press 1974).
Rory is a trusted legal advisor who provides practical business advice to his clients on the full panoply of employee benefit law issues, such as:
Rory handles the full gamut of employee benefit plan asset and investment issues, including:
Managing Editor, Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, 1976-1977
American Bar Association
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Law Education Institute (Faculty Member)
Fellow, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
Chambers USA: New York: Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 2007-2017
The Legal 500 United States: Leading Lawyer 2017
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 2012-2017
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Employee Benefits 2007-2009
The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Labor & Employment Litigation 2007
The Legal 500 United States: Tax: Employee Benefits 2009-2011
Best Lawyers in America 2008-2018
New York Super Lawyers 2010-2016
Lawdragon & Human Resource Executive Nation’s Most Powerful Employment Attorneys – Top 100 2011-2018
Martindale-Hubbell: AV-Rated (Preeminent)
Lawdragon “3000 Leading Lawyers in America” 2010
The National Law Journal Top 40 Employee Benefit Law Attorneys
New York Magazine Top 50 Attorneys in New York State,
HR Executive Magazine Top 50 Employment Attorneys in America
Human Resource Executive & Lawdragon Top 10 ERISA Law Attorney
Lawdragon 500 Guide 500 Leading Lawyers
PLC Which Lawyer?: Employee Benefits and Pensions (Highly Recommended)
Guide to the World’s Leading Labour and Employment Lawyers