Martha Sewell practices in the area of employee benefits, where she focuses on employee health and welfare benefit plans. She counsels clients on compliance with the numerous and often complex rules applicable to health and welfare plans, cafeteria plans and fringe benefit plans, including ERISA, HIPAA and the tax code.

In her twenty years of practicing in this area, she has addressed a broad range of issues affecting all types of health and welfare plans, including plan design, documentation and administration issues, all aspects of COBRA compliance (including implementation of the COBRA subsidy), correction of past plan document, Form 5500 and operational problems and compliance with federal and state privacy and security laws. She has prepared and negotiated numerous administrative service agreements and business associate agreements for both employers and service providers, and has been instrumental in helping to resolve disputes between those entities. She has an extensive understanding of state laws and their applicability to employee benefit plans, insurers and third party administrators. Ms. Sewell has advised clients in a number of different settings regarding the design and operation of legally-compliant wellness and disease management programs. She also has experience working with retiree medical plans, having addressed issues related to plan documentation, plan funding, and participant disputes.

Ms. Sewell was named to Business North Carolina’s 2008 "Legal Elite" list in the area of Employee Benefits law. She was a recipient of the 2008 Triangle Business Journal's Women in Business Award. Ms. Sewell has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law for every year since 2013. She was also named a 2014 "Raleigh Lawyer of the Year" in the area of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law by The Best Lawyers in America®. Ms. Sewell is AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.