How I Made Practice Group Chair: 'Make Time to Deeply Understand the Law in Your Field,' Says Brantley Webb of Mayer Brown
Practice area: ERISA litigation
Law school and year of graduation: Yale Law School, 2010
How many years have you been at your firm?
I have been at the firm for 12 years.
What made you pick your practice area?
ERISA litigation is not so well known as antitrust or patent law, so first, a word about what it is. ERISA is the federal law that governs most retirement plans offered by corporations and not-for-profit organizations in the United States. It requires plan fiduciaries to administer their plans in the best interest of the plan participants at all times. There are many different types of claims and causes of action brought under ERISA, but about twenty years ago, the plaintiffs’ bar began filing a new type of case, now known as the “ERISA Excessive Fee” lawsuit, in which a named plaintiff alleges, with hindsight, that the fees associated with the plan were too high, or that plan investment options underperformed. Excessive fee lawsuits can be very expensive to defend if they’re not dismissed at the outset—discovery is broad and depositions can reach the highest levels of management in the company. They are also high stakes—damages sought can run into the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars and ERISA fiduciaries face personal liability for any breaches of their fiduciary duties under the statute. In the last nine years or so, there have been some 500 lawsuits filed against plan sponsors all over the country, with concentrated aim taken at the largest plans.
This is not to say all cases brought are meritless, but the statute has been weaponized, to some extent, against fiduciaries who are generally doing their best to properly and prudently run a retirement plan, of which they are almost always participants themselves. In my experience, plan fiduciaries are usually people who are passionate about their work and who do their best to carefully navigate the constantly shifting legal and industry landscape.
My partner Nancy Ross (at her prior firm) and Mayer Brown defended some of the very first of these lawsuits and became the leading ERISA excessive fee defense experts in the country. I began working with them about 10 years ago and have increasingly devoted more time to this project. I love working with plan fiduciaries and their teams to understand their plans, their efforts, and their processes. It is a privilege to stand up for them in court and defend their work.
How did you develop your expertise in your practice area?
Most ERISA cases do not get past the motion to dismiss stage: either defendants prevail on their motion to dismiss or, if they do not, the parties reach a settlement. (This is to avoid the high expense of litigation). Mayer Brown has tended to defend some of the tougher, more complex cases that don’t easily settle, and we have tried multiple large ERISA excessive fee cases in the last few years. As a defense lawyer, taking these cases through trial gives you a vantage point you do not gain in earlier parts of the litigation. It becomes easier to look at the allegations and the basic set of facts early on and get a sense of where the pressure points in the case will be; what plaintiffs may have a harder or easier time proving, and what will be the strengths of the defense. This is important for shaping litigation strategy from the outset and helping clients and their stakeholders understand where the case is headed.
Why did you want to become a practice area leader?
Nancy Ross, who is a legend in the ERISA litigation world and who has been a mentor to me, asked me to do it, and I don’t say no to her.
What skill sets do you need to be an effective practice group leader (i.e., knowing more about the practice, hiring, business development, financial management, etc.)?
Our group focuses on substance, so the most important skill set is having a rigorous understanding of the entire ERISA litigation legal landscape. ERISA draws from the law of trusts and is largely judge-made law. Thus, we need a clear understanding of all the different decisions being handed down in different jurisdictions across the country and particularly those rendered by the courts of appeal. I spend time reading and thinking about those decisions, particularly at the appellate level, to try to understand where the law is going. In the ERISA world, clients constantly want (and need) to understand the law and how it is developing—so it is essential for our group to be able to provide them with that counsel.
How do you balance client work with management work?
As practice group co-chair, I need to understand every case that our group is handling in all our offices across the U.S. to make sure we are being consistent and advancing the strongest possible defenses and positions. That has been rewarding but time consuming. Managing the financial elements of the group are not all that different from being a partner generally. You try hard to clearly communicate with your clients about fees, deliver on budgets, and perform your highest quality work as efficiently as possible. There is no great way to balance this, so as a rule my clients are always my number one priority.
How does having a practice leadership role give you a sense of the broader strategic vision of the firm?
One of the best things about being practice group chair is that it requires you to coordinate and collaborate with other practice group leaders in the firm, like in our benefits group, our appellate group, and the firm’s other star trial lawyers. I have worked closely with Mayer Brown’s brilliant Supreme Court attorneys, like Andy Pincus and Nicole Saharsky, when our cases move into the appellate stage and on other broader ERISA policy-related issues. This helps give me a sense of the vision and priorities of these other groups and the way they function within the firm and it is something I enjoy.
What other roles or experiences help you in this current role?
I practice in areas other than ERISA, including general commercial litigation, particularly involving financial services and the financial markets, and I am in trial more than my husband would like. Being a trial lawyer and going to trial in cases that arise under completely different statutes and causes of action than ERISA has helped me understand litigation strategy better generally and apply that to our group’s cases.
For example: are you telling your client’s story effectively in your case starting with page one of the motion to dismiss? We find that judges appreciate our efforts to connect our defense to the statute’s rich history; to explain the complexities of retirement plan administration clearly and simply, and, in particular, to clarify the sophisticated investment questions and principles that can often arise in these cases. Our job is to distill all of this down and help the court understand the case. I think doing that in other contexts and different areas of law helps you improve.
What are key priorities for your practice area?
Our priority is to win cases and make good law. Hundreds and hundreds of excessive fee cases have been filed against plan fiduciaries in the last decade, and the pace is increasing, not decreasing. In my view, this area of the law is out of balance. The objective of ERISA is to encourage companies and not-for-profit organizations to sponsor well-run retirement plans. That is not something they have to do; it is something they can choose to do. It is unquestionably beneficial for employees and plan participants of all ages to be able to save for their retirement in an ERISA-sponsored plan. And when they do, they should have choices within their plan of products and services that are tailored to their needs and preferences. Having a system in which fear drives plan sponsor decisions is patently not in the best interests of plan participants. It reduces choice and it suppresses innovation.
Do you have a broader influence in this role over improving diversity at your firm? If yes, how so?
It could not be easier to understand the importance of all types of diversity than as a trial lawyer. We try cases all over the country, from Connecticut—to Texas—to California. It is essential to have people on your team from different backgrounds and with different beliefs, persuasions, and viewpoints. I think that is something Mayer Brown does best. We are not promoting any one viewpoint; we bring together so many different perspectives and backgrounds. When you are huddled in a workroom with your team putting together a closing argument for judges or jurors of all different backgrounds, the last thing you want is an echo chamber.
To this end, mentorship of all of the associates in our group across our many U.S. offices is our top priority. Andrew Olmem, who is the managing partner of our D.C. office and a leader within the firm worldwide, has been an absolute mentor to me on this and so many other issues. He has taught me quite a bit about how to be a good mentor, partner, and practice group leader.
Is succession planning a part of your role as a practice group leader, and if yes, how so?
We are fortunate to have multiple senior partners in our group who practice all over the country, so our succession planning focuses on recruiting and training the best associates across the firm to make sure we have the right people to work on our cases. As you can imagine, “do you want to work on an ERISA case?” is not an easy sell to new associates, so we have to make sure we are giving associates brief-writing, deposition, and trial opportunities and mentoring them every step of the way.
Is there anything that surprised you about the role?
What most surprised me about becoming a chair was that it happened this year. My husband and I had a baby in the fall of 2024. I took several months off, and then came back to help chair our very busy group. This has meant a lot of ERISA, a lot of time with my five-year old and baby, and not a lot of sleep.
How has the role given you insights into client needs?
Yes, it has helped me anticipate my clients’ needs. Having a better understanding of the lay of the legal landscape, including the many lawsuits being filed all the time, the key court decisions coming out in different jurisdictions, significant policy developments, and thought leadership from both Mayer Brown and other firms who are leaders in this space, has helped me provide much better service to my clients. This is actually what I love most about being a chair of the group—using that work to provide clients the very best advice that I can and the strongest possible defense of their cases.
Is there any other advice you’d share for those looking to become a practice leader?
You have to love your subject area and take the time to understand the broader legal landscape. That requires a lot of time and learning. Years ago, I checked out the Restatement of Trusts from our firm’s library for a memo I was writing to a partner on an ERISA question. They are still sitting on my desk, but highlighted, tabbed, and very well worn. I get a lot of dry comments (and maybe sympathy) from my team members about my interest in that treatise. But it has been important for my understanding of ERISA law—its history and where it needs to move to better align with the goals of the statue and the law of trusts.
My advice would be to make time to deeply understand the law in your field so that you can do all of the things that a practice group leader needs to do—from helping shape the litigation positions in your group’s cases, to writing articles and policy papers, to answering client questions on the spot about questions or uncertainties in the law. There is no faking it, whether you are talking with experienced in-house counsel on an emergency-basis about a mistake they just discovered in their transactions, or you are two hours in to a three-hour oral argument on a motion to dismiss, or you are writing a re-direct examination in real time while plaintiffs’ counsel is cross examining your expert witness on a hypothetical trust law scenario at trial. Knowing your area of the law inside and out is essential. It’s a bit like going back to law school, in a way, but as a seasoned attorney, and it is worth it.
Reprinted with permission from the December 12 edition of Law.com © 2025 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.
