Christopher Sowden
Partner
Practice Areas
- ERISA and Employee Benefits
- Executive Compensation
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Retirement Plans
Biography
Christopher Sowden is a partner at The Wagner Law Group. He advises clients on all aspects of qualified and nonqualified retirement and deferred compensation plans, Employee Stock Ownership Plan financings, and a wide range of employee benefit matters involving for-profit and tax-exempt employers.
Chris also has extensive experience representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in examinations, correction programs, ruling requests, as well as litigation in state and federal courts. In addition, he regularly advises clients on employee benefit issues arising in mergers and acquisitions and on ERISA fiduciary duties. He also practices in ERISA-related fields of law such as corporate taxation.
Prior to joining The Wagner Law Group, Chris served as a partner and attorney at a number of leading law firms in New England and Washington, D.C. He also once served as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London.
Publication & Media
Education
- George Washington University National Law Center, Washington, District of Columbia
- M.C.L. - 1978
- University of Oxford, Oxford, England. B.A., 1970; M.A., 1976; Merit Scholarship, Oxford
- M.A., Master of Arts - 1976
- Major: Jurisprudence
- Inns of Court School Of Law, London, England. Barrister at Law, 1971
Professional Associations
- Connecticut Bar Association, Member
- American Bar Association, Member, Section on Taxation
Bar Admissions
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut – Inactive
- District of Columbia – Inactive
- U.S. Tax Court
- England and Wales
Past Positions
- Reid and Riege, P.C., Partner, 1989 to 2000
- Grove, Jaskiewicz, Gilliam & Cobert, 1982 to 1989
- Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, 1978 to 1982
- Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, Law Clerk, 1977 to 1978
- Corporate and partnership taxation