Professional Experience:
The Wagner Law Group, A Professional Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts. January 2009 - present Partner
• Responsible for consulting with firm clients on a wide variety of issues with respect to qualified retirement and 401(k) plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, nonqualified deferred compensation, split-dollar life insurance arrangements and executive compensation.
• Maintains close contacts with representatives from the IRS and the DOL.
• Activities include:
o All aspects of qualified and nonqualified retirement and deferred compensation plans and arrangements of taxable and tax exempt employers;
o Practice before IRS, DOL and PBGC in examinations, correction programs, and ruling requests;
o Employee benefit issues in mergers and acquisitions;
o Fiduciary responsibility and prohibited transaction issues;
o Executive compensation matters; and
o Benefit programs for tax-exempt entities.
Ropes & Gray LLP (1970 – 2008)
Russ Gaudreau was a partner in the Tax & Benefits Department since 1979 and headed Ropes & Gray's employee benefits consulting and actuarial practice. Russ concentrated on retirement plan and executive benefit matters and practiced in Ropes & Gray's Boston and Washington, DC offices.
Russ also served as the managing partner of Ropes & Gray's Washington, DC office. He developed a significant employee benefit practice in DC and frequently obtained private letter rulings, closing agreements, and advisory opinions from the IRS and the DOL.
Honors and Awards:
• Massachusetts Super Lawyers List, New England Super Lawyers Magazine, (2004 - 2016)
• New England’s Best Lawyers (2013 - 2016)
• The Best Lawyers in America (1987 - 2017)
• Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2006 - 2016)
• Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition (2010 - 2016)
• Greater Boston Employee Benefits Lawyer of the Year (2010)
• Who's Who in America (1990 - 2016)
• Who's Who in American Law (1990 - 2016)
Professional & Civic Activities:
• Former director and founder of the New England Employee Benefits Council
• Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel
• Long-time faculty member, Boston University School of Law Graduate Tax Program
• Member of the Georgetown University Law Center faculty, where he teaches courses on pension, 401(k), 403(b) and other deferred compensation arrangements
• Former Member of the American Law Institute of the American Bar Association faculty
• Former director and president of Parents' & Children's Services
• Trustee, Suffolk University
• Director, Beacon Hill Civic Association
• Former director and board chair of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay
Publications:
• “New Fee Disclosure Rules Increase Fiduciary Responsibilities,” by Chad W. Gutner, Russell Gaudreau, Jr. and Steven J. Samuel, Lawyers Weekly (May 31, 2012)
• "Executive Retirement Benefits in the Non-Profit Sector -- A White Paper -- Managing Expectations When There is No Perfect Answer," (PDF) BNA's Executive Compensation Library on the Web, March 8, 2010
• "Executive Retirement Benefits in the Non-Profit Sector," (PDF) Crain's New York Business.com, February 23, 2010
• “Noncompetition Provisions in Nonqualified Plans: Have the Courts Put Away the Blue Pencil?,” Journal of Deferred Compensation Nonqualified Plans and Executive Compensation, by Russell A. Gaudreau, Jr. and Robert C. Macaulay, Jr. (Volume 2, Number 3, Spring 1997)
• Chapter 23, Bender’s Federal Tax Service, “Tax-Sheltered Annuities, Church, Governmental and Qualified Bond Purchase Plans,” (1997)
