Lori Jones helps clients solve some of their most challenging employee benefit problems. 

She advises clients on a wide range of employee benefit matters relating to qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans, and executive compensation, including 409A compensation plans, stock options, incentive arrangements and stock-based plans.

Her strong commitment to client service, coupled with an extensive knowledge of employee benefit law and regulations, plus a genuine appreciation of the economic and market pressures facing employers, enables her to find practical, creative and cost-effective solutions for her clients.

Lori’s focus includes not only plan design and drafting, but also plan administration and compliance, and employee benefit issues relating to mergers, acquisitions and other types of corporate reorganizations.

  • Washington University School of Law, LLM, 1989
  • Saint Louis University School of Law, J.D., 1983
    • Order of the Woolsack
    • First Place Severs Writing Competition
    • Second Place Health Law Writing Competition
    • Childress Full Scholarship
  • College of St. Scholastica, B.A., 1978

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois
  • Missouri

  • Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
    • President, 2004-2005
  • American Bar Association
  • Missouri Bar Association
  • Illinois Bar Association
  • Supreme Courts of Missouri and Illinois

  • Named Lawyer of the Year for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law in St. Louis by Best Lawyers In America, (by BL Rankings) 2015; 2018; 2021
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, (by BL Rankings) 2005-2025
  • Fellow, American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, 2014-2020
  • Listed in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, (by Thomson Reuters) 2005-2007, 2010-2013

  • “Tips for Conducting a Year-End 401(k) Plan Review”
    Employee Relations Law Journal Autumn 2019
  • “A Checklist for Updating Your Plan’s QDRO Procedures”
    Employee Relations Law Journal Summer 2019
  • “Section 4960 Excise Tax; What Tax-Exempt Employers Need to Know”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review May 2019
  • “Providing Access to Naloxone in the Workplace; What Employers Need to Know”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review June 2019
  • “How Employers Can Use Employee Benefits to Address Climate Change”
    Employee Relations Law Journal Spring 2019
  • “7 Things Employers Should Know About EBSA Investigations”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review March/April 2019
  • “Suprise Medical Billing Legislation”;
    Employee Benefit Plan Review February 2019
  • “What Employers Need to Know to Implement the New Hardship Withdrawal Proposed Regulations”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review January 2019
  • “Retirement Plans under Tax Reform 2.0: How the Family Savings Act Could Affect Employers”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review Nov/Dec 2018
  • “Top Hat Plan Checklist for Employers”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review October 2018
  • “When to Terminate a Defined Benefit Plan”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review September 2018
  • “7 Facts Employers and Employees Should Know About HIPAA and the Opioid Crisis”
    Employee Relations Law Journal Autumn 2018
  • “Snapshots from the IRS”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review July/August 2018
  • ‘Five Reasons To Do A Mental Health Parity Check-Up”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review June 2018
  • “Shoring Up the PBGC’s Insurance Program for Multiemployer Plans”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review May 2018
  • “Time to Address Benefits for Alternative Work Arrangements?”
    Employee Relations Law Journal April 2018
  • “The Trouble with TPAs”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review March/April 2018
  • “2018 Resolution: Fiduciary Training”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review February 2018
  • “What’s in Your Health Savings Account?”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review January 2018
  • “Beware the Tail of the Dog; 5 Tips in Dealing with Employee Benefits in Mergers & Acquisitions”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review November/December 2017
  • “Breaking up is Hard to Do; Divorce and Employee Benefits”
    Employee Relations Law Journal October 2017
  • “Benefit Issues Impacting Older Workers”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review October 2017
  • “Forewarned is Forearmed? PBGC FAQs Clarify the Use of the Early Warning Program”
    Employee Relations Law Journal Autumn 2017
  • “An ERISA Claim Check: 9 Tips for Effective and Compliant Claims Procedures”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review September 2017
  • “Someone To Watch Over Me and My 401(k)”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review July/August 2017
  • “Something There Is That Doesn’t Love a Regulation”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review June 2017
  • “The Controversy Over State-Mandated IRAs Continues”
    Employee Relations Law Journal Summer 2017
  • “Shoring Up the PBGC’s Insurance Program for Multiemployer Plans”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review May 2017
  • “DOL Revises Guidance Regarding Exercise of Shareholder Rights by ERISA Fiduciaries”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review March/April 2017
  • “21st Century Cures Act Overrules IRS Guidance on HRAs; Enhances Enforcement of Mental Health Parity Act”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review February 2017
  • “FAQs Address Tobacco Cessation Programs and Mental Health Parity Compliance”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review January 2017
  • “EEOC Issues Guidance on New Wellness Notice”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review December 2016
  • “Executive Severance Agreement; 10 Common Benefit Issues”
    Employee Benefit Plan Review November 2016
  • “Section 409A: Top 10 rules for compliant non-qualified deferred compensation”
    Thompson Coburn Publications July 2016