Carla N. mckain is an erisa attorney serving clients across the u.s.

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Meet ERISA Lawyer

Carla N. McKain

Carla N. McKain, principal attorney for McKain Law PLLC, advises and represents clients who are entitled to employee benefits under employer-sponsored plans. She gained experience working on matters arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, while in law school. Ms. McKain received her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. Subsequently, Ms. McKain was an associate attorney at several firms exclusively focused on representing union-sided trustees of large multiemployer pension and welfare funds governed by ERISA.

After moving from the D.C. area to upstate New York, Ms. McKain built an ERISA practice while working at a large firm before starting her own practice, McKain Law PLLC, in January 2013.

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Ms. McKain is active in the legal community in and around Ithaca, New York, and maintains connections and working relationships with ERISA attorneys practicing in other areas of the country. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Tompkins County Bar Association, and the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York, Finger Lakes Chapter. Ms. McKain is on the board and is immediate past-president of the Tompkins County Bar Association. Currently she is working with local judges, lawyers, and other community leaders on a pilot project for Tompkins County that aims to provide “equal access to justice” for lower-income residents coming into contact with the civil legal system.

ERISA Benefit Situations We Can Assist You With

McKain Law, PLLC has obtained positive results for clients in numerous areas, including:

  • Working with divorce attorneys to understand, negotiate, and draft qualified domestic relations orders for ongoing divorce cases;

  • Handling unresolved QDROs for one or both ex-spouses who already have a divorce judgment, even if the divorce was many years ago;

  • Assisting with claims related to employer-provided health, disability, and retirement plans;

  • Representing clients appealing a denied claim during the administrative process before insurance companies or self-funded plans;

  • Litigating ERISA claims relating to complex mental health coverage parity rules;

  • Litigating claims in federal court to obtain or reinstate benefits denied after an appeal; and

  • Requesting plan documents and other information to which you are entitled, and obtaining monetary penalties against the employer for failure to timely provide that information