Samuel W. Krause is a seasoned employee benefits, executive compensation, and ERISA attorney with over two decades of experience advising clients across a wide spectrum of industries and organizational types. As the former Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for California Schools VEBA—a $1 billion trust serving over 150,000 public employee union members—Sam provided legal oversight and strategic guidance to the Board of Directors and senior management, ensuring regulatory compliance, effective risk mitigation, and the development of best-in-class policies and governance structures.
Sam’s distinguished legal career spans private practice at nationally recognized firms, including Skadden Arps, Hogan & Hartson, Crowell & Moring, and Epstein Becker & Green, where he counseled Fortune 500 companies, investment funds, plan sponsors, trustees, and fiduciaries on the full range of executive compensation and employee benefits issues. His practice encompasses ERISA compliance and litigation, plan fiduciary obligations, multiemployer and single employer plan governance, and the design and implementation of qualified and nonqualified benefit plans. Sam is particularly adept at navigating the regulatory, transactional, and tax implications of mergers, acquisitions, cross-border transactions, IPOs, and private equity fund formation.
A former investigator at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Sam conducted high-stakes audits, investigations, and enforcement actions, and authored the audit operations manual now used nationwide by the EBSA. He is recognized for developing creative, forward-thinking legal solutions to complex regulatory challenges, and for his ability to advance organizational missions while maintaining rigorous compliance standards.
Sam is regularly sought out for his expertise in negotiating employment and separation agreements, advising on IRC Section 409A and 457 issues, and guiding employers through the intricacies of fiduciary responsibility, prohibited transaction rules, and plan corrections under IRS and DOL voluntary compliance programs. He also has extensive experience supporting labor unions, boards, and plan fiduciaries with collective bargaining, plan administration, and withdrawal liability matters.
Education
New York University School of Law, LL.M. (Tax)
Hofstra University School of Law, J.D., With Distinction
California State University at Northridge, B.A., History
Admissions
California
New York
