Brian W.Barrett

Senior Counsel

Brian helps employers find practical solutions to business needs relating to employee benefits, and assists them in complying with the unique laws governing employee benefit rights during and following military leave.


More About Brian

Clients look to Brian to help them find comprehensive solutions to all aspects of maintaining qualified retirement plans, beyond the mere legal qualifications. This includes vendor management and negotiations, proactive design choices, and keeping abreast of potential ERISA litigation developments. Brian also assists employers and plan sponsors in navigating the complex framework of legal requirements applicable to employees who perform military service.

Brian has experience in a broad range of employee benefits issues—counseling clients on qualified retirement and welfare plan matters regarding plan administration, fiduciary responsibility, claims procedures, and disclosure requirements. He has also handled executive compensation and executive severance matters.

Before starting his legal practice on employee benefits, Brian spent several years in Seyfarth's employment law practice group, focusing on class-wide discrimination claims and ERISA litigation. This experience has led him to evaluate ERISA and military leave matters with a holistic approach, combining compliance and counseling viewpoints along with litigation-avoidance strategies.

Brian has also advised major clients on both employment and employee benefits aspects of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) for more than a decade, and represented clients at both the DOL level and in complex, class action USERRA litigation.

When asked what he loves most about working at Seyfarth, Brian said, "It's enjoyable to work with a group of attorneys who are so capable, and base their approach to practicing law on making their clients happy."

  • JD, University of Virginia School of Law
  • BA, Miami University

    Summa cum laude

  • Illinois
  • US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
  • US District Court, Central District of Illinois
  • US District Court, Northern District of Illinois
  • US District Court, Northern District of Indiana