Bard Brockman represents employers, plan sponsors, plan administrators, third-party administrators, individual fiduciaries, and independent trust companies in ERISA cases. He has substantial experience in handling ERISA class actions, benefits disputes, fiduciary claims, subrogation actions, ESOP claims, and government investigations.

In the current economic downturn, Mr. Brockman has advised clients facing regulatory enforcement actions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve, and state banking regulators. He also has counseled directors and officers of financial institutions that are facing possible receivership.

Mr. Brockman devotes the remainder of his practice to handling complex business disputes, in both litigation and arbitration settings, including contract disputes, purchase price adjustments, real estate and boundary disputes, fraud claims, unfair competition and other business torts, non-compete and other restrictive covenants, executive compensation and severance disputes, and "change-in-control" claims.

Select Representations

Mr. Brockman's recent representations include:

• Obtained summary judgment (and an award of attorneys’ fees) for an independent trust company on claims for breach of fiduciary duty and violations of ERISA
• Obtained summary judgment for an company-sponsored ESOP and its trustees on claims for violation of ERISA’s Anti-Cutback and Significant Detriment Rules
• Obtained dismissal of professional negligence claim against independent trust company
• Prosecuted a defendant class action for a Fortune 100 client as trustee of pension funds subject to competing claims of its unionized workers
• Represented a large public university in a class action suit brought by former employees to recover early retirement benefits
• Negotiated a substantial subrogation recovery for a company-sponsored medical plan in connection with a medical malpractice suit brought by a plan beneficiary
• Successfully tried a factually complex garnishment case involving claims of corporate "alter ego" and "piercing the corporate veil"
• Successfully defended a major insurance company in an arbitration matter on severance and change-in-control claims brought by a former executive
• Successfully defended a computer services company in a lengthy arbitration involving a purchase price adjustment based on a complicated earn-out formula
• Obtained summary judgment for a major telecommunications corporation in three separate actions in which former contractors asserted claims for fraud and racial discrimination
• Successfully defended a major home building company in arbitration claims for extra-contractual damages
• Successfully prosecuted an action to quiet title to a parcel of real property at the heart of a mall development project in metro Atlanta
• Negotiated a complex settlement of an action for equitable partitioning of a 300-acre parcel of prime real property in the mountains of north Georgia
• Tried a claim for prescriptive easement concerning the historical use of a right-of-way to gain access to a landlocked parcel of land in Atlanta's Buckhead business district
• Successfully negotiated several substantial settlements in preference actions in connection with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of a major consumer products retailer

Bar and Court Admissions

Georgia, 1989

Florida, 1990

United States Supreme Court

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

United States District Courts for the Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Florida and the Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Georgia

Education

University of Florida, J.D., with honors, 1989

University of Florida, B.A., 1985

Speeches and Seminars

• "Attorneys Fees Under ERISA After Hardt v. Reliance Standard," American Bar Association Employee Benefits Committee 2011 Midwinter Meeting
• "ERISA Preemption: Countering Plaintiffs' Attempts to Overcome the Procedural and Substantive Aspects of the Defense," ACI Conference on ERISA Litigation, October 2010
• "Analyzing Plan Remedies and the Scope of Equitable Remedies," ACI Conference on ERISA Litigation, October 2009
• "Responding to Benefit Claims and Avoiding ERISA Litigation," Worldwide Employee Benefits (WEB), Atlanta Chapter, June 2009
• "Supreme Court Developments in ERISA," Bryan Cave Labor & Employment Conference, May 2009
• "Fiduciary Roles in the Era of Change," Southern Employee Benefits Conference (SEBC), May 2009
• "Implications of the Supreme Court's Decision in LaRue," Fiduciary Risk Management webinar, April 2008
• "Keep It Short: Brevity in Legal Writing," Georgia Legal Services live seminar and webinar, July 2007
• "ADR in Corporate Transactions: A Critical Analysis," Georgia Business Law Institute, October 2001

Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association – Litigation and Labor and Employment Sections
• State Bar of Georgia – General Practice and Trial Section
• The Florida Bar – Out-of-State Practitioners Division, Former President (2 terms)
• Atlanta Bar Association – Litigation Section
• Logan E. Bleckley American Inn of Court – Barrister
• Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)
• Atlanta Benefits Council (ASPPA)
• Southern Employee Benefits Conference (SEBC)

Civic Involvement and Honors

• Georgia Super Lawyer (2007)
• Super Lawyer (Corporate Counsel Edition, 2008)
• Who's Who Legal (ERISA, 2007)
• Leadership DeKalb – Class of 2005
• University of Florida College of Law Alumni Council
• Florida Blue Key
• Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church