Robyn S. T. Carlson

Robyn Carlson is a partner in Williams Mullen’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice. She advises private and publicly held corporations, governmental employers and tax-exempt organizations on a broad range of employee benefits and executive compensation matters. Her experience includes over 20 years in private practice and several years as in-house benefits counsel for a Fortune 500 company, which gives Robyn not only a broad perspective with respect to the legal issues impacting her clients, but also an understanding of the day-to-day administrative and practical challenges faced by in-house counsel and human resources and benefits personnel.

Robyn helps clients design, implement and administer all types of benefit and compensation plans that support their business and workforce objectives. Her work includes retirement plans such as pension and 401(k) plans, as well as a variety of welfare benefit plans such as health plans, disability plans, severance plans, cafeteria plans and flexible spending arrangements

She advises plan sponsors and administrators on all aspects of administrative and documentary compliance with federal tax laws and other federal laws applicable to employee benefit plans, including ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act. She also counsels clients on reporting and disclosure requirements, fiduciary duties, and tax withholding and reporting requirements as they relate to employee benefit plans and other compensation arrangements.

Robyn represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Such representation includes utilizing voluntary compliance and fiduciary correction programs, resolving regulatory audits and investigations, and obtaining administrative rulings, determinations and exemptions.

Robyn also has experience handling benefits and compensation issues arising in corporate mergers, acquisitions and similar transactions, with a particular focus on benefit plan spin-offs and mergers and post-closing employee and plan integration.

She earned her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Richmond School of Law, where she was a member of the McNeill Law Honor Society and a manuscripts editor for the University of Richmond Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Carleton College.