Ropes & Gray Co-Authors Public Comment Letter on Department of Labor’s Proposed 401(k) Safe Harbor

Ropes & Gray recently joined a coalition of six other leading law firms in submitting a public comment letter to the Department of Labor in support of its proposed rule providing a safe harbor for 401(k) plan fiduciaries selecting designated investment alternatives, including those featuring private equity and other alternative assets.

The proposed rule establishes a framework under which a fiduciary can demonstrate compliance with its duty of prudence under ERISA when selecting designated investment alternatives for individual account plans. The coalition's comment letter strongly supports adoption of the proposed rule and offers recommendations for clarification intended to further the policy goal of democratizing access to alternative investments for American workers saving for retirement. The letter also addresses areas where additional guidance would help plan fiduciaries confidently incorporate private equity and other alternative asset classes into their plan investment menus for the benefit of participants.

Ropes & Gray's contributions to the comment letter were led by ERISA and benefits partner and co-lead of the firm’s collective investment trust (CIT) practice Joshua Lichtenstein, ERISA and benefits counsel Jonathan Reinstein, and asset management partner Michael Doherty, drawing on the deep experience of the firm's entire CIT and 401(k) access team.

Read the full letter.