Brandon Long is an experienced, AV Preeminent-rated employee benefits attorney. He represents regional and national clients, including large publicly-traded corporations and governmental entities. Clients seek his advice for practical solutions to complex problems, as well as his ability to make technical concepts understandable to executives and other lawyers.
Brandon currently serves as an elected member of McAfee & Taft’s seven-member board of directors. Prior to being elected to the firm’s board, he served for many years as the leader of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group.
Brandon is a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, the highest peer-level of recognition for an employee benefits attorney. His achievements have also earned him inclusion in the Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Oklahoma Super Lawyers, and The Best Lawyers in America (employee benefits/ERISA law). In the Oklahoma City market, Brandon has been selected as “Best Lawyers Employee Benefits/ERISA Lawyer of the Year” for 2021, 2025 and 2027.
Brandon is a frequent author and speaker on employee benefits topics nationwide and has played key roles in a number of leading industry organizations, including the SouthWest Benefits Association (past president), the Employee Benefits Institute of Kansas City (past member, steering committee), the American Bar Association (vice chair, Defined Contribution Plans Subcommittee), and the Oklahoma Board on Legislative Compensation (prior member, appointed by the Speaker of the House). His passion for advocating for employer health plans also led him to co-found the Oklahoma Employers Healthcare Alliance, a coalition committed to educating and empowering employers and their employees to make informed healthcare-related decisions, as well as promoting healthcare quality, cost-effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.
Brandon’s practice is focused on matters involving qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and executive compensation. He routinely advises board committees regarding fiduciary and investment issues and the compliance aspects of new or evolving laws. A portion of his practice is also devoted to ERISA litigation, including the defense of employers in benefits litigation and advocating for employer plans in appellate litigation. Brandon also provides comments to legislators and regulators on what the law should be, and has submitted amicus briefs to courts encouraging decisions that help employer plans and their covered participants.
More than 30 years ago, Brandon started in the mail room of another large law firm, worked as a legal assistant while going to law school at night, and graduated ranked first in his law school class. He practiced with large national and international law firms in Dallas and Washington, D.C. before returning to his hometown and joining McAfee & Taft. He holds a master of laws in taxation from the Villanova University School of Law, and has completed Harvard Law School’s Leadership in Law Firms program.