S. Derrin Watson, JD, APM
Derrin is an independent ERISA attorney and educator in Santa Barbara, California with over 40 years of experience in dealing with retirement plans. In addition to his solo practice, Derrin is Of Counsel to the Ferenczy Benefits Law Center and also works with FIS with their Relius line of plan documents.
Derrin received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from BYU and in 1980 he graduated from UCLA Law School. He has been involved with qualified plans since 1977 and had his first case involving controlled groups shortly thereafter. He has maintained a strong interest in this area ever since and has become the leading authority on controlled group, affiliated service group, and leased employee issues. He is the author of Who’s the Employer (soon in its 8th edition), the 403(b) Plan eSource, and the 457 Plan eSource, and co-authored the Plan Correction eSource, all published by ERISApedia.com. Derrin is a Senior Advisor of the Journal of Pension Benefits.
He has a wife, two sons, four of the finest grandchildren on the planet, and four cats. His varied experiences range from doing standup comedy (yes, even about ERISA) to serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Iran, to editing and writing books and newsletters on a variety of topics. He enjoys punctuating his ERISA presentations with original parodies.
