Best Best & Krieger welcomes three new members to its growing Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group. Partner Jeffrey Chang, Of Counsel Susan Neethling and Pension Consultant David Allen, all formerly of Chang Ruthenberg & Long, have joined BB&K’s Sacramento office.

BB&K has created a unique powerhouse in the highly specialized area of public sector benefits by adding the experienced government plan team to BB&K’s already highly respected Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group. The combined group will serve more than 200 California cities and public agencies. The depth and breadth of this practice group will provide municipalities, special districts, school districts and other public sector clients with an unrivaled experience-base and knowledge to develop cost-effective, practical and compliant benefits programs, including pension and health and welfare plans. In addition, as public agencies grapple with meeting their pension obligations, the creative and authoritative counsel the team provides will give these agencies peace of mind now and in the future.

“We are very excited to welcome Jeff, Susan and David to BB&K to create the premiere public employee benefits practice in California and for the assistance they will provide to our public sector clients,” said BB&K Managing Partner Eric Garner. “Hundreds of California’s public agencies will benefit from our combined decades of experience and knowledge.”

“I am happy to join BB&K, a full-service firm and a leader in public agency law in California,” said Chang. “The move will enable me to continue to meet my clients’ needs and expand my ability to serve them. I have been very impressed with the firm’s capabilities in its Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group, as well as its other practice and industry groups and the firm’s strategic growth in all areas.”

Previously a shareholder at CRL, Chang brings more than four decades of experience in skillful evaluation of benefit and retirement plans for compliance and maximum outcomes for clients. Chang represents government agencies, nonprofits, businesses, tax-exempt organizations, non-ERISA and religious organizations, including churches. One of the most experienced employee benefits attorneys in California, he works closely with his clients on every aspect of retirement plan design, compliance and correction, as well as fiduciary compliance and executive compensation.

Neethling focuses on counseling governmental, church, nonprofit, ERISA, and non-ERISA clients in all aspects of retirement plan design, documentation, compliance, implementation, reporting and disclosure. She is a leading authority on issues concerning defined contribution, defined benefit and 403(b) and 457(b) retirement plans. She has 30 years of experience in the employee benefits consulting and legal field.

As a pension consultant with nearly 30 years of employee benefits experience, Allen works with private, nonprofit and public agencies, including corporations of all kinds, hospitals and assisted living facilities. His focus is on governmental and church plans, providing knowledgeable and skillful support to Jeff and Susan and their clients. He assists with fiduciary, compliance, healthcare and vendor management matters.

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