Roberta Casper Watson

Many years devoted to the practice of employee benefits law, including experience on American Bar Association committees and employee benefits councils, allowed me to build an extensive background in ERISA, employee benefits and executive compensation. Although I do a full range of employee benefits work, I have a strong interest in health plans, and have done much work in the rules for COBRA, HIPAA, Medicare Secondary Payor and other health plan issues. At the nationally renowned Wagner Law Group, I now head the Welfare Benefits Department, where we help clients deal with the Affordable Care Act among other health and welfare plan issues.

I also have a great deal of experience with pension and profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, life and disability insurance plans, ERISA fiduciary law, employee stock ownership plans, deferred compensation, ERISA litigation support and employee benefit aspects of family law.

I am active in the American Bar Association, where I was Chair of both the Tax Section Employee Benefits Committee and the Health Law Section Employee Benefits Interest Group. I was also Chair of the ABA’s Joint Committee on Employee Benefits and Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel. I also served on a Task Force created by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services to implement the CHIPRA notice requirements. For many years, I was on the board of Northside Community Mental Health Center, and was its president in 1999-2001.

I've been AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell and was listed in Best Lawyers in America for Employee Benefits Law since 1995. I was also listed in Florida Super Lawyers for 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. For 2012, I was designated by Best Lawyers as the Tampa Lawyer of the Year for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law.

I earned my law degree from Harvard Law School in 1974 after graduating from the University of Idaho in 1971 cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science.