Professional Experience:
Mary Ellen Schill's employee benefits law practice involves the representation of both public and private sector employers in their sponsorship of all forms of employee benefit plans as well as compensation planning. Mary Ellen has extensive experience in employee benefit plan selection and design, as well as plan drafting and implementation, whether qualified or non-qualified retirement plans, flexible benefit plans, or welfare benefit plans. She has counseled private sector employers on establishing, maintaining, and terminating ESOPs, and assisted (along with members of the firm's Business Transactions Practice Group) plan sponsors in ESOP redemption transactions. She also provides clients with a wide range of expertise regarding tax qualification, plan administration, preparation of plan participant communications, plan amendments, and plan terminations.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) provides the rules to follow as far as Mary Ellen's private sector clients go and she assists those who sponsor ERISA-covered plans as to the impact of ERISA on the administration and operation of those plans. Mary Ellen has developed a special expertise in the areas of ERISA's fiduciary duty rules and prohibited transactions. She has assisted clients in responding to Department of Labor audits of ERISA plans.

Mary Ellen advises employers on selection and design of executive compensation programs, both equity-based and non-equity based, sometimes "funded" by a rabbi trust. She also counsels our tax-exempt clients and governmental clients on sponsorship of tax-sheltered annuity plans under Code Section 403(b), including plan design, compliance with the myriad of rules limiting contributions, and correction of Code Section 403(b) plan defects.

Finally, Mary Ellen advises businesses regarding ERISA and Internal Revenue Code issues arising during mergers, acquisitions, and sales of businesses.

Recent transactions include:

• Assisted several clients with evaluating the potential for withdrawal liability if multiemployer pension plan contributions were to be discontinued.
• Assisted a manufacturing client with restructuring company ownership by redeeming shares held by an ESOP and borrowing necessary funds to complete the restructuring
• Advised several clients with respect to the fiduciary duty rules applicable to those who administer and manage ERISA-covered retirement plans.
• Assisted clients with designing, drafting, and implementing supplemental retirement plan agreements for senior executives, along with counseling regarding compliance with the IRS rules on deferred compensation.
• Assisted both public and private sector employers with compliance with Health Care Reform.

Education:
B.A. (magna cum laude), St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI (1985)

Honors: Agnes Ryan Scholarship; Wm. O'Callaghan, Award in Arts and Sciences, Honor Societies: Phi Sigma Iota; Sigma Tau Delta; Delta Epsilon Sigma

J.D. (cum laude), University of Notre Dame Law School, South Bend, IN (1988)

Honors: Dean O'Meara Scholarship, Notre Dame Law Review, Contributing Author and Note Editor,  Author; "Refusals to Deal by Single-Firm Monopolists -  Should We Rob Peter to Save Paul?," 63 Notre Dame Law Rev. 214 (1988)

Admitted to Practice:
Wisconsin Supreme Court
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Bar Associations:
American Bar Association

Section Member: Business Law; Taxation

State Bar of Wisconsin

Section Member: Business Law; Taxation

Marathon County Bar Association

Professional Recognition:
Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce ATHENA Award Finalist – 2011

Professional Activities:
American Bar Association

Business Law Section, Employee Benefits Committee, Member (2002 - present)

Greater Milwaukee Employee Benefits Council

Member (1988 - 1992)

International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Member (1988 - present)

Wisconsin Retirement Plan Professionals, Ltd.

Member (1988 - 1992)

National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, Member

Civic Activities:
Wausau Conservatory of Music,

President (1997 - 1998), Vice President (1996 - 1997), Director (1994 - 2000)

Wausau Area Performing Arts Foundation

Director (2000 - 2006), Education Committee (2006 - present)

St. Norbert College Alumni Association

Board of Directors (2009 - present)

Presentations:

• New ERISA Disclosure Guidance, Annual Ruder Ware Employment, Benefits & Labor Relations Law Conference - 11/4/11
• The IRS is Your Friend:  Local Government Issues With the Internal Revenue Service - 9/28/11
• Employee Benefits Issues for the Small Employer, State Bar of Wisconsin, 7th Annual Employee Benefits Update - 9/7/11
• Special Briefing - What's Next Under the New Public Sector Bargaining Law?  - 7/14/11
• What You Need to Know and Do - Understanding the New Health Care Laws, 2011 Annual Paralegal Seminar - 5/6/11
• What You Need to Know and Do - Understanding the New Health Care Laws, Central Wisconsin TEC/VISTAGE CEO Group - 3/16/11
• Special Briefing - Budget Repair Bill - 2/23/11
• What You Need to Know and Do - Understanding the New Health Care Laws - 2/2/10
• Understanding the New Federal Health Care Laws - What Employers and Benefit Consultants Need to Know and Do - 12/7/10
• Health Care Reform - Coverage of Adult Children, Small Employer Tax Credits, and Early Retiree Reinsurance Program - 11/4/10
• Health Care Reform and its Impact on Local Government - 10/27/10
• Health Care Reform - Coverage of Adult Children, Small Employer Tax Credits, and Early Retiree Reinsurance Program - 10/21/10
• Health Care Reform - Coverage of Adult Children and Small Employer Tax Credits, State Bar of Wisconsin, 6th Annual Employee Benefits Update - 9/16/10
• Employee Benefits Update - 11/04/09
• 2010 Qualified Plan Cost of Living Increases, 2010 Social Security Taxable Wage Base - 10/16/09
• Employee Benefits Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, COBRA, SCHIP, and HIPAA, State Bar of Wisconsin, 5th Annual Employee Benefits Update - 9/15/09
• Update on COBRA and Wisconsin Health Coverage Continuation - 2/26/09
• COBRA and State Health Continuation Rights, State Bar of Wisconsin, 4th Annual Employee Benefits Update - 8/21/08
• Lessons From the Trenches on Negotiating and Designing Employment and Severance Agreements - 6/25/08
• You Call It Quadro, I Call it Q-DRO, State Bar of Wisconsin, 3rd Annual Employee Benefits Update - 8/21/07
• Show Me the Money! A Wage and Hour Forum - 4/19/07
• What's New in Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation - 11/3/06
• Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans: Can We Even Call Them "Nonqualifed" Anymore - 5/2/06 and 5/9/06
• Taking Control of the Rising Cost of Health Coverage Through Plan Design Changes - 10/14/05 and 6/8/06
• Are You or Your Client an ERISA Fiduciary??  Why You Should Care!, State Bar of Wisconsin, 2nd Annual Employee Benefits Update - 8/18/06