Hicks Morley lawyers leave to form new pension, benefits firm

A number of lawyers from Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP have formed a new boutique law firm dedicated to pension, benefits and executive compensation

The firm, Brown Mills Klinck Prezioso LLP, will offer a suite of services, including insolvencies and corporate transactions; plan design and restructuring; defined benefit plan de-risking; pension plan administration, governance and regulatory compliance; capital accumulation plans; executive compensation; and employee and retiree benefits.

Read: Hicks Morley appoints new chair of pension, benefits group

Elizabeth Brown, who had been at Hicks Morley since 1995, will appear as counsel on pension litigation disputes and has experience advising on large corporate transactions, including insolvencies, mergers and acquisitions and reorganizations.

With 20 years of experience, Lisa Mills had been with Hicks Morley since 1998. She has also been a sessional instructor in pension law at Queen’s University and a lawyer at Mercer. Her experience includes providing advice to both federally and provincially regulated pension plan sponsors on plan design and regulatory compliance.

Before Terra Klinck joined Hicks Morley in 2008, she was an associate and partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and a lawyer at Mercer. Her 20 years of experience include advising plan sponsors on all legal issues relating to pension and benefits plans. In recent years, much of her practice has focused on advising private sector employers on restructuring their legacy defined benefit arrangements.

John Prezioso joined Hicks Morley in 2006. Before that, he was a senior policy advisor for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and an associate in the pension and benefits group at Osler. He advises plan sponsors on compliance, administration and governance issues relating to their pensions and benefits plans, as well as matters related to investments and decumulation.

Read: Good pension governance about more than filling out legal papers, conference told