Marvin “Bucky” Swift is a highly experienced employee benefits, executive compensation, and ERISA attorney with more than 40 years of experience advising employers, executives, plan sponsors, fiduciaries, private equity firms, and other sophisticated clients. Bucky combines deep technical knowledge with a practical, collaborative approach, helping clients navigate complex legal and regulatory requirements while developing solutions aligned with their broader business objectives.
Bucky’s practice encompasses a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters. He advises public and private companies on the design and implementation of management incentive programs, equity compensation arrangements, employment agreements, change-in-control agreements, and other executive compensation programs. His experience includes counseling clients regarding Internal Revenue Code Sections 409A, 280G, 4999, and 162(m), as well as drafting equity compensation plans, employee stock purchase plans, related securities disclosures, and executive-level agreements.
Bucky also has extensive experience with qualified retirement plans and ERISA fiduciary matters. He advises employers on plan design, administration, compliance, correction, and interactions with the Internal Revenue Service. His work has included representing an employer in connection with a 100% acquisition by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), addressing complex nondiscrimination issues affecting dozens of portfolio-company 401(k) plans, and counseling clients on plan corrections and other matters arising under the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS).
His experience before the IRS is particularly notable. In one matter involving a cash balance plan, Bucky successfully navigated an IRS determination-letter proceeding in which the agency initially sought corrective amendments and a substantial closing-agreement penalty. Drawing on provisions of SECURE 2.0 and subsequent IRS guidance, he established that the remaining operational issue could be self-corrected. The matter ultimately concluded with the IRS issuing a favorable determination letter and imposing no closing-agreement penalty.
Bucky also advises private equity funds and institutional investors on sophisticated ERISA Title I matters, including the plan asset rules, venture capital operating company considerations, and other issues affecting benefit-plan investment. His transactional experience includes drafting and negotiating ERISA provisions in loan and credit agreements, preparing ERISA-related disclosures for private placement memoranda, and providing opinions and other guidance designed to facilitate investments by institutional benefit plans.
Before joining Hall Benefits Law, Bucky served as Of Counsel in the Executive Compensation & Benefits Practice Group at Morrison & Foerster. Previously, he spent nearly 30 years as a Partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Group at Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix. He began his employee benefits practice as an Associate with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C.
Throughout his career, Bucky has been known for his ability to make highly technical benefits and compensation rules understandable and actionable. His approach emphasizes collaboration, thoughtful problem-solving, and practical advice that addresses both a client’s legal obligations and its underlying business needs.
Practice Focus
- Executive compensation and management incentive arrangements
- Equity compensation and employee stock purchase plans
- Employment and change-in-control agreements
- Internal Revenue Code Sections 409A, 280G, 4999, and 162(m)
- Qualified retirement plan design, administration, and compliance
- ERISA fiduciary and Title I matters
- EPCRS and IRS plan corrections
- IRS determination-letter proceedings
- ESOP transactions
- Private equity and ERISA plan asset matters
- ERISA considerations in financing and investment transactions
- Retirement plan nondiscrimination and controlled-group matters
Education
T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, J.D.
- Associate Editor, Law Review
- McNeill Law Society, Top 10% Honors Society
George Mason University, B.S., cum laude
Bar Admissions
- Arizona
- Virginia (inactive)
- District of Columbia (inactive)