Roberta Watson

Many years devoted to the practice of employee benefits law, including experience on American Bar Association committees and employee benefits councils, allowed me to build an extensive background in ERISA, employee benefits and executive compensation. Although I do a full range of employee benefits work, I have a strong interest in health plans, and have done much work in the rules for COBRA, HIPAA, MSP and other health plan issues. At the nationally renowned Wagner Law Group, I now head the Welfare Benefits Department, where we help clients deal with the Affordable Care Act among other health and welfare plan issues. In addition, I have done much work with ESOPs and other plans holding employer securities, helping employers, fiduciaries, and others navigate many tax and fiduciary issues. I also work a great deal with pension and profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, life and disability insurance plans, ERISA fiduciary law, deferred compensation, ERISA litigation support and employee benefit aspects of family law. I am active in the American Bar Association, where I was Chair of the Tax Section Employee Benefits Committee, the Health Law Section Employee Benefits Interest Group, and the ABA’s Joint Committee on Employee Benefits. I am a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel. I also served on a DOL/HHS Task Force to implement the CHIPRA notice requirements. For many years, I was on the board of Northside Community Mental Health Center, and was its president in 1999-2001. I've been AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell and was listed in Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits Law since 1995. I was listed in Florida Super Lawyers most years from 2006-the present. For 2012, I was designated by Best Lawyers as the Tampa Lawyer of the Year for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law. I earned my law degree from Harvard Law School in 1974 after graduating from the University of Idaho in 1971 cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science.