Neelam Chandna
Partner
Practice Areas
- ERISA and Employee Benefits
- Executive Compensation
- Retiree Medical Trusts
- Taft-Hartley Trusts
- Retirement Plans
Biography
Neelam Chandna advises collectively bargained multiemployer funds, known as "Taft-Hartley plans," including defined benefit, defined contribution, health and welfare, and apprenticeship plans. Neelam's experience in employee benefits includes plan design, plan drafting, and consultation in a broad range of matters under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She has represented trust funds in a wide variety of sectors, including construction, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, entertainment, and law enforcement. Ms. Chandna routinely speaks on various ERISA topics, ranging from a broad overview of the statute to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent review of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, for organizations such as the Employee Benefits Committee of the Labor and Employment section of the American Bar Association.
Neelam was previously a partner at a Los Angeles law firm and worked for the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the United States Department of Labor, where she dealt with ERISA issues involving both single employer and multiemployer plans. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of California, Berkeley.
Publications & Media
- Wagner Law Hires Union Plan Specialist As Partner In LA – Law360, May 17, 2021
- Retirement Industry People Moves: Wagner Law Group Adds Partner Who Specializes in Multiemployer Plans – Neelam Chandna, PLANSPONSOR, May 14, 2021 (PDF)
Education
- Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
- J.D. - 1997
- University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California
- B.A.
- Major: French
- Major: Political Science
Bar Admissions
- California, 1997
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 2000
Professional Associations
- ABA, Labor & Employment Section, Member, 1997
- LACBA, Member, 1997
- South Asian Bar Association, Member, 1996
- AFL CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, Member, 2000
- American Bar Association, 2009 to 2010
Honors
- Listed in Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2006 and 2007
Languages
- French
Past Positions
- U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Investigator, 1997 to 1999