Brandon P. Long

Brandon Long is an experienced, AV Preeminent-rated employee benefits attorney and the leader of the firm’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group, which is one of the largest and most experienced of its kind in the region. He represents regional and national clients with thousands of employees, including large publicly traded corporations and governmental entities. Clients seek his advice for practical, creative solutions to complex problems, as well as his ability to make highly technical concepts understandable to executives, employees and other lawyers. He also currently serves on McAfee & Taft’s board of directors.

His achievements have 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). He was selected by Best Lawyers as the “Oklahoma City Employee Benefits (ERISA) Lawyer of the Year” for 2021, an honor only given to a single lawyer in each legal specialty in each market.

Brandon is a frequent author and speaker on employee benefits topics nationwide and has played key advisory and leadership roles in a number of leading industry organizations, including the SouthWest Benefits Association (past president), the Employee Benefits Institute of Kansas City (steering committee), the American Bar Association (Co-Chair, Employee Benefits Subcommittee on Self Correction, Determination Letters, and Administrative Practices), the Gulf Coast TE/GE Council, and the Oklahoma Board on Legislative Compensation (appointed member).  His passion for advocating for employer-sponsors of health plans also led him to co-found the Oklahoma Employers Healthcare Alliance, an employer 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 boards and board committees regarding fiduciary and investment issues and the compliance aspects of new or evolving laws such as the Affordable Care Act, the SECURE Act, and the CARES Act.  A portion of his practice is also devoted to ERISA litigation, including the defense of employers in benefits litigation and advocating for employers and 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 25 years ago, Brandon started in the mail room of another large Oklahoma City firm, worked as a legal assistant while going to law school at night, and graduated ranked first in his law school class. Brandon then 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.