Colorado Employee Benefits Attorney Profile

Ed Frado is a Colorado employee benefits attorney who has specialized exclusively in this field for over two decades.  In his current law practice, he mainly counsels employers with up to approximately five hundred employees.

Ed applies his enthusiasm and affable nature when advising clients on a wide array of employee benefits matters. This includes counseling clients regarding plan design, performing compliance reviews for plans of various size and complexity, preparing filings under the Internal Revenue Service’s and Department of Labor’s correction programs, drafting plan documents, amendments, summary plan descriptions and other participant disclosures, and analyzing retirement plans involved in merger/acquisition transactions. Ed represents clients that are undergoing Internal Revenue Service and/or Department of Labor retirement plan examinations, and he negotiates with those agencies regarding various plan matters outside the examination arena as well. He reviews and negotiates clients’ vendor contracts concerning benefit plans, and he analyzes plan sponsors’ compliance with ERISA’s claims and appeals regulations. Ed has extensive experience with Form 5500 preparation for retirement and welfare benefit plans, including advising employers about the Form 5500 filing requirements. In addition, Ed serves clients by providing timely updates with respect to the frequent changes in employee benefits laws, regulations and other guidance, including rules governing fiduciary conduct under ERISA.

Ed earned a B.A., cum laude, in Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. Ed is licensed to practice law in Colorado. He enjoys speaking at conferences and training events, including 2008-2015 annual conferences sponsored by the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, various events for the American Payroll Association, the Colorado Human Resource Association, Mile High SHRM, and other professional groups and firms. His articles have appeared in publications such as The Advisor, Nonprofit Colorado, and the Denver Business Journal. Also, Ed has been interviewed by Bloomberg News for his expertise in retirement plans.

Clients experience Ed to be friendly and knowledgeable. Outside of work, he attempts to control his addictions to skiing and golf. He also enjoys watching sports with his wife and son, and taking family walks with their dog. Ed is known to dabble with the electric guitar, though he tries not to subject his family to his practice sessions.