Professor Kathryn Kennedy of The John Marshall Law School Shares Expertise on Deferred Compensation with Senate Finance Committee Staff

Professor Kathryn Kennedy of The John Marshall Law School, a nationally recognized expert in employee benefits, was one of 44 academics to share her insights with staff members of the United States Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 5 and 6, 2012, at a roundtable discussion on tax reform.

Kennedy was invited to the program by the majority and minority staffs of the Finance Committee. She directs the country’s only LL.M. degree in employee benefits for attorneys, and M.S. degree in employee benefits for the non-attorney.

During the two-day roundtable meetings, Kennedy was a panelist for the session on deferred compensation. Finance Committee members scheduled sessions on six specific areas of tax reform—individual income tax; deferred compensation and tax-exempt organizations; estate and gift tax; energy and environmental taxes; business taxation; and international taxation. The confidential, ‘off the record’ nature of the sessions gave the panelists the ability to have frank and lively interchanges on a variety of past and present tax reform initiatives.

Kennedy has been called upon numerous times for her expertise. She testified before the Senate Finance Committee in 2002 and in 2003 sharing information on nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. In 2005, Kennedy gave testimony to the Bush Tax Reform Panel and was appointed to a three-year term by then United States Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao to serve on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans. In 2006, she was a delegate to the National Summit on Retirement Savings.

Kennedy presently serves on the IRS’ Advisory Committee on Tax-Exempt and Government Entities (ACT).

“I was thrilled to be asked to join this academic roundtable discussion on tax reform,” she said. “The staff members were knowledgeable on a wide variety of tax matters and it was refreshing to hear that they had read many of our academic tax articles.

“Due to Congress's and the nation's interest in tax expenditures and their use in shaping our long-term savings policy, that topic was on the table. The academics present had a wide variety of opinions as to their utility,” Kennedy added.

“Such debate is healthy as retirement savings and employer-provided health benefits provide some of the largest tax incentives under the federal income tax code,” she noted. “While tax reform may not be imminent due to the upcoming presidential election and the polarization of the two parties, it was important to plant seeds in the minds of the Finance Committee staff as to what areas need the most attention.”

Marilyn Thomas
Director, Public Relations
312-360-2661
6thomas@jmls.edu

The John Marshall Law School
315 S. Plymouth Ct.
Chicago, IL 60604
www.jmls.edu

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