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Litigation involving the reasonableness of fees in ERISA plans was more prominent in 2016. New suits targeted plan sponsors, universities and investment companies. The fees of plans with balances less than $25 million have also drawn scrutiny.

Griffin and Long highlight the most significant cases from last year and identify specific decision-making procedures employers concerned about potential ERISA fee litigation should have in place.

During the past 30 months, more than 240 companies in the energy sector – a majority of them based in Texas – have declared bankruptcy. The Texas Lawbook conducted an extensive examination of the lawyers and firms working on the distress in the oil patch.

In part one of a series of articles, The Lawbook found that energy companies in bankruptcy have paid their legal and financial advisers – a great majority of them based in New York and Chicago – more than $1.4 billion in fees and expenses during the past two and one half years and hundreds of millions of dollars more to be paid during the next few months. Three law firms have been paid a combined $354 million for their representation of distressed energy companies during the past two and a half years.