Trish Winchell

In an era of escalating pension liabilities and sweeping health care reforms, Trish serves as an employee benefits advisor to public and privately-owned businesses and governmental entities.

Trish has extensive experience with qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, welfare plans, and executive compensation, including equity-based plans. She frequently counsels clients facing benefit claims, guiding them through the complex administrative process and developing the ERISA-required responses that protect employers from adverse litigation results down the road.

Plan administrators for governmental pension programs turn to Trish for guidance on the complex laws affecting their benefit plans. In her work for clients ranging from small municipalities across the country to the City of New York, she has successfully redesigned defined benefit and other pension plans in response to budget crises. In 2015, Trish's work on the highly-publicized St. Louis firefighter pension reform — including the drafting of city ordinances supporting the reform — was affirmed by the Missouri Supreme Court.

In recent years, Trish has developed special experience with the Affordable Care Act. She helps companies create strategies for complying with the law, weigh the cost-benefit of potential penalties, navigate federal reporting requirements, and determine the best way to offer coverage for employees.