Previous Law Firm Name

• McChesney, Duncan & Dale, P.C., November 30, 1993

Law Firm Overview

McCHESNEY & DALE, P.C., is a law firm serving the greater Washington Metropolitan Area with a general civil practice, concentrating in corporate and business law, employee benefits, estate planning and administration, taxation and tax preparation, personal injury matters and general litigation. The firm's office is located just off of Route 50 in Bowie, Maryland.

The firm's philosophy is to maintain a small to medium sized staff of attorneys, while being able to provide the flexibility and back-up of a large firm, but at a reasonable cost. Its clientele is comprised of local businesses and health care providers, jointly administered employer-union trust funds, and individuals including professionals, such as physicians, lawyers, accountants, architects and engineers. The firm strives to deliver reasonably priced, quality legal service to its clients through a combination of senior and associate attorneys, paralegals and support staff.

CORPORATE AND BUSINESS LAW

In the corporate and business law areas, McCHESNEY & DALE, P.C., serves area businesses in employment law issues, administrative law and litigation. The firm assists clients in the creation, merger, recapitalization and liquidation of business entities, as well as in their operation and general law matters. It consults on shareholder/corporate issues, employment discrimination matters, Americans with Disabilities Act matters, tax planning issues and RICO problems. The firm is available to maintain corporate minute and stock books, and to assist at Boards of Directors' and Shareholders' meetings, when needed. It also prepares employment agreements, buy/sell agreements, and deferred compensation plans.

In addition, the firm has attorneys experienced in all facets of litigation in which a business might become involved. Its attorneys are licensed in courts throughout the Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia jurisdictions. In addition to litigation in all area State and Federal Courts, members of the firm have appeared before the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, Board of Contract Appeals, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, various state agencies enforcing employment discrimination laws and all area workers' compensation adjudicatory bodies.

While members of the firm are available to handle litigation on behalf of its corporate clients, the firm is strongly committed to minimizing potential litigation through a consistent pattern of keeping clients advised of current developments in the law and working with clients to avoid such conflicts, where possible.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

McCHESNEY & DALE, P.C., renders employee benefit services to corporations, private professionals, closely-held businesses, and large multi-employer trust funds. Pension, welfare, profit sharing, and 401(k) plans are some of the qualified employee benefits plans the firm designs and implements. It also represents trustees/administrators before various governmental regulatory agencies.

Assistance in ERISA matters is a primary focus area of the firm. Several members of the firm have been actively involved in the field of retirement benefits and health care law since the passage of ERISA in 1974. This includes preparing, qualifying, amending, and terminating plans, executing prohibited transaction exemptions, providing advice regarding fiduciary duties, drafting investment manager contracts, and overseeing administrative and regulatory compliance. Participation at trustee meetings is also customary.

Members of the firm regularly monitor the ever developing area of employee benefits law in order to keep clients appraised of the most recent changes, and they are available to meet with clients to discuss the impact of recent legal developments and implement any warranted changes.

The firm handles all areas of ERISA litigation and has represented plaintiffs in asserting ERISA claims in Federal Courts throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, as well as defending ERISA Plans and Employers from claims brought by participants. It is currently involved in representing a number of individuals asserting claims for disability benefits, including participants suffering from Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome.

ESTATE PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION

Offering estate and tax planning services, McCHESNEY & DALE, P.C. prepares wills, trusts of various types, "Living Wills", Medical Powers of Attorney and durable Powers of Attorney, seeks to minimize tax burdens, considers charitable gifts, addresses liquidity, analyzes potential liability of individuals and businesses upon death, plans for beneficiaries' needs, reviews insurance coverage and protection, and more.

The firm serves as counsel for fiduciaries and beneficiaries with respect to estate and trust administration, and members of the firm act as fiduciaries, if so requested. It fully manages probate matters, and advises on estate and trust matters, responds to and represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service, and participates in litigation, when required.

In addition, the firm offers many tax and personal planning services, such as trusts, family partnerships and corporations to operate, transfer or acquire assets upon death, or incapacity.

GENERAL LITIGATION AND PERSONAL INJURY

McCHESNEY & DALE, P.C., represents various employers and other businesses in the defense of general litigation, including employment issues, prosecution and defense of personal injury and workers' compensation cases. Our clients include large corporations, local businesses, self-insurers, and national carriers. The firm encourages regular contact with its clients in order to promote a thorough understanding by them of recent developments in employee benefits and workers' compensation laws and judicial decisions, so that they will be able to react properly and promptly to developments in cases, whether as an insurer or as an employer.

The firm has on staff former officers of the Association of Compensation Insurance Attorneys. On several occasions, members of the firm have prepared and filed Amicus Curiae briefs in the Supreme Court on behalf of Associations in the Insurance industry in pending workers' compensation cases. Members of the firm frequently handle matters of ERISA litigation, Title VII and related Federal non-discrimination statutes, RICO matters and litigation involving similar laws.

In addition, where no conflict exists, the firm handles claims on behalf of injured workers and accident victims.

Robert W. McChesney, Jr.

A founding member of the firm, Bob McChesney, entered active private law practice in 1951 in the District of Columbia. Within a few months he expanded his practice into the nearby Maryland counties. He attended Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts and, after a three year stint in military service, he graduated Cum Laude from that institution and took his law degree at Georgetown University in 1950.

Bob's deep roots in the Metropolitan area led to his developing a lasting professional relationship with many local business and professional people. This became a sort of "general counsel" role which in numerous instances has continued to the present time. This has meant growing with clients he's represented through the years and providing legal guidance in many areas of personal, business and professional growth, struggle, expansion, and varieties of evolution. It has meant baby adoptions, buy-sell agreements, organizing of businesses, pre-nuptial agreements, construction contracts and claims and a variety of other legal matters. Bob has also been very heavily involved in preparing wills, preparing and administering trusts, estate planning and related areas of tax planning and estate administration. Also during his many years of practice, a substantial amount of his work has involved the organization and operation of dozens of corporations, partnerships and limited partnerships.

Bob McChesney's experience has also included a substantial role in organizing and administering several not-for-profit corporations in the District of Columbia.

Representation of "Taft-Hartley" or "ERISA" (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) trust funds which provide health/medical benefits and retirement benefits is another area in which he has extensive experience, spanning a period of more than 20 years. This, again, has involved responsibility as "general counsel", in this case, for wide-ranging activities of well-organized business and labor entities, frequently involved in quite sophisticated endeavors, and charged with the well-being of hundreds, even thousands, of participating individuals and their families.

Bob is a member of the International Federation of Employee Benefit Plans, the Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council, the American Bar Association, as well as local bar organizations. He is licensed to practice in the Courts of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

William P. Dale

Bill has been in practice in Washington D.C. and Maryland since 1974. He is a graduate Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University in 1971, and received his J.D. from Georgetown University in 1974.

In the mid 70's, Bill was actively involved in defending several Title VII class actions involving allegations of race discrimination in various construction local unions in the Washington Metropolitan area. During that same time period he became involved in representing various Taft-Hartley Pension, Health and Welfare and Apprentice Trust Funds. He has advised numerous clients and service providers in connection with the Employee's Retirement and Income Security Act of 1974, and has dealt with the courts, Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service in connection with ongoing compliance issues under ERISA. He has acted as general counsel to a number of plans over the past 20 years.

In connection with this Employment Benefits practice, Bill has represented employees, employers and insurance carriers in hundreds of workers' compensation cases before the Department of Labor and District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. He has handled a number of appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He has drafted briefs on behalf of parties and Amicus Curiae before the United States Supreme Court on issues arising out of the compensation system.

Over the past several years, in addition to these activities, Bill has been involved in extensive litigation involving several cases of real estate construction fraud and undue influence in a probate estate proceeding. In one RICO case, he was successful in obtaining a judgment of in excess of $1 million in which the court stated that "...had the fraud not been uncovered and laboriously pursued, there is no question that there would have been continuing criminal activity."

Bill is a member of the International Federation of Employee Benefit Plans, the Washington D.C. Estate Planning Council, The Bowie Chamber of Commerce, the Anne Arundel Trade Council and the Barristers. He is a former President and Secretary of the Association of Compensation Insurance Attorneys. He is licensed to practice in Courts throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia, and has been admitted pro hac vice in selected cases in Virginia.

Bill and his wife Jody have four children. Bill served as Chairman of the Administrative Council of his United Methodist Church for several years and has served on many committees within that church and others. He is a member of Old South Country Club. He is President of the Anne Arundel County Unit of the American Cancer Society.

CHARLES F. FULLER

Chuck Fuller was born in Middletown, New York in 1958. Earning his undergraduate degree from Mercy College in 1980, Chuck received his law degree from Western New England College in 1985. He became an associate of McChesney, Duncan & Dale, P.C. in November 1989. Prior to 1989, Chuck was an associate with a litigation firm in Bethesda, Maryland for three and one-half years. His initial work out of law school was with the Federal Aviation Administration, where he concentrated on airline bankruptcies and federal loan guarantees to the airline industry.

Chuck specializes in general litigation, with emphasis in the areas of personal injury, workers' compensation, insurance coverage, ERISA, and products liability. Chuck is admitted to practice before the Courts of Maryland and the District of Columbia. In addition to local Bar Association memberships, Chuck is a member of the Association of Compensation Insurance Attorneys, and the Washington Claims Association. Chuck and his wife Nikki have two children.

Areas of Practice

• Estate Planning
• Trusts
• Wills
• Labor Law

West Practice Categories

Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills, Labor Law