Usha is a nationally recognized employee benefits attorney with nearly three decades of experience in employee benefits law, including regulatory and fiduciary compliance, executive compensation, and ERISA litigation. Her practice combines extensive government enforcement experience with sophisticated private practice counseling, providing clients with a comprehensive understanding of both regulatory expectations and practical business considerations.
Before re-entering private practice, Usha served for more than 22 years with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, culminating in her role as Regional Counsel for ERISA for the Philadelphia Region. During her tenure at the Department of Labor, she advised senior agency leadership on enforcement strategy and emerging legal issues, supervised attorneys, negotiated significant settlements, directed complex ERISA litigation, and worked closely with the Employee Benefits Security Administration and other federal and state agencies on matters involving retirement plans, health plans, and fiduciary responsibility.
Earlier in her career, Usha practiced in employee benefits and executive compensation groups at major West Coast law firms and served as tax benefits counsel for a large technology corporation in Silicon Valley. She advised on employee benefits issues related to mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, equity plans, and retirement and welfare benefit plans.
Usha is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law, where she teaches the Law School’s first ERISA course. She has served for a decade in leadership roles with the American Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Committee and is a frequent contributor to the leading treatise Employee Benefits Law.
Usha earned her J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and her B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Missouri.
Usha Rengachary is actively licensed in the State of California.