Gary W. Novara

Mr. Novara is the firm's founder, and was one of the first attorneys in the State of Michigan to build a practice around the service of retirement systems with the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 1974. Mr. Novara has extensive experience in the employee benefits and labor arena, and has overseen countless rounds of labor negotiations, pension and fringe benefit plan mergers and dissolutions, as well as fringe benefit fund mergers. He also was the first to successfully complete the partition of an insolvent pension plan with the Pension Benefits and Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the governmental entity that guaranties pension obligations of private employers. Additional areas of practice for Mr. Novara include Labor-Management Relations and Corporate Planning and Reorganizations. Mr. Novara earned his Bachelor of Arts degree Magna Cum Laude from the University of Detroit in 1970, and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Detroit in 1973, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Mr. Novara is a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), the American Arbitration Association (AAA), American Bar Association (ABA), and the Industrial Relations Research Organization. He is licensed to practice law in the various state and federal courts within the State of Michigan.

• Of Counsel