Students in the Employee Benefits Law class offered this spring went beyond studying federal pension regulations. They actually helped shape them. The students did more than learn how financial-service providers can fleece consumers, they took steps to protect retirees and workers.

On March 2, two students traveled to Washington, D.C. with Professor Norman Stein and testified about a regulation the U.S. Department of Labor proposed to safeguard consumers.

The regulation would define financial-industry professionals who offer advice about pension-plan distributions as fiduciaries, requiring them to act in the best interest of the workers and retirees they serve.

"Service providers do not always operate in the best interests of pension-plan participants," said Charles Yocum, one of the students who testified at the hearing, convened by the Employee Benefit Security Administration, an agency of the DOL.

The financial industry, whose professionals sometimes steer retirees and workers toward high-fee investments, has a major stake in the matter, said Yocum, a 3L.

Yocum and 2L Justin Tomevi urged federal officials to adopt the proposed rule, which would update the definition of "fiduciary" to include those who provide investment advice on retirement plans for a fee or other compensation.

Tomevi cited a case from Iowa in which retiring workers received letters urging them to take "immediate action" and call an 800 number belonging to the financial group that managed their pension plan. Calls were handled by sales counselors who enrolled the retirees in a mutual fund that exacted high fees without offering other options for their investments. Although a judge allowed the possibility of retirees recouping certain fees, they didn't fully recover their losses, Tomevi noted.

"Given the potential obstacles to courts fashioning meaningful relief for participants, we believe it would be critical for the department to monitor this area and use its own enforcement powers," Tomevi testified.

Michael L. Davis, the deputy assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, commended Tomevi and Yocum for offering testimony at the hearing and said it is unusual for students to do so.

"They were very well prepared," Davis said. "A significant amount of work is required to testify at a hearing, and it is certainly impressive to have students do so in this stage of their careers. It takes a lot of moxie to go on the record with a specific point of view."

Stein said the students' testimony contributed significantly to the discussion of the proposed rule, which he called "one of the most important regulations in the last decade to come out of the Department of Labor."

One of the nation's foremost experts on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Stein likes giving students direct access to policy makers.

"Students benefit tremendously from picking the brains of those who write and enforce the laws concerning employee benefits and pensions," Stein said.

To that end, Stein led 10 students from the Employee Benefits Law class on a second trip to Washington in late March, when they interviewed a small galaxy of past and present luminaries in the pensions firmament. Those they met included Frank Cummings, a law professor who was the lead author of ERISA while serving as chief of staff to the late U.S. Sen. Jacob Javits of New York; Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi and the Legislative Counsel for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation Marjorie Hoffman.

The delegation capped the visit by taking part in the Pension Rights Center's 35th Anniversary Gala, where they heard consumer rights advocate and 2000 presidential candidate Ralph Nader, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.