Pension Plan for Lawyers and Law Firm Staff

Less than a third of Ontario workers have access to a workplace pension plan. That statistic is even lower for law firm workers!

In 2015 CBIA/Lawyers Financial, a not-for-profit association governed by and for lawyers, set up a Task Force to develop a predictable, sustainable and cost-efficient pension plan for law firms. That Task Force recommended a plan that will provide lifetime retirement income that will be 30% to 50% greater than the income that can be provided under the typical defined contribution or group RRSP arrangement.

The Task Force included leading pension lawyers, actuaries, and administrators. Input and research came from a wide variety of sources, including surveys and meetings with law firm leaders and HR professionals, lawyers, law firm staff, pension regulators, CEOs of large public pension plans and Bar Association pension sections across the country.

The Pension Plan will be a multi-employer pension plan that provides lifetime retirement benefits based on a fixed rate of contribution. The benefit is simply 8.5% of total contributions.

The proposed Pension Plan looks a lot like those enjoyed by unionized and public sector workers. Firms with existing DC arrangements can immediately get a better bang for their buck by just stopping contributions to their DC plan and start making them to the Pension Plan.