DOL Obtains Consent Order Against Chicago Law Firm

The Department of Labor resolved its suit against a defunct Chicago law firm, McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP, and four of the firm’s capital partners through a consent order obtained Monday.

Nearly $6.5 million in retirement plan assets have been paid out to 40 former employees after the DOL alleged its fiduciaries failed to properly terminate the plan and disburse the funds to participants.

In August 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, entered a consent order resolving the DOL’s claims against the firm and its capital partners. The department alleged that the defendants violated ERISA by failing to follow a 2019 partnership resolution.

The defendants provided proof that all plan assets were distributed to participants, except for approximately $13,861 in it’s employer-level plan accounts. The consent order required the plan’s recordkeeper to distribute those funds to its participants and to terminate the plan.

The DOL first sued the defunct law firm in 2023 alleging that the firm failed to properly distribute the company’s retirement plan assets after the firm dissolved in 2019.2019.

Under the consent order, the four capital partners—Paul Turner, John McCullough, Dennis Nelson and David Joslyn—are permanently barred from serving as fiduciaries or service providers for any Employee Retirement Income Security Act-covered employee benefit plan.

The plan also transferred account balances belonging to plan participants it could not locate to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s missing participants program.

According to the DOL’s announcement, employers can rely on the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s correction programs to ensure that their plans are complying with the law. EBSA’s programs include the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, which allows plan officials to identify and correct fiduciary violations.

Last week, the Treasury Department and IRS issued updates to Revenue Procedure 2026-34, which broadens the ability for sponsors to correct retirement plan compliance failures without first obtaining IRS approval or paying a voluntary correction program fee. The departments are seeking public comments through January 20, 2027, and the procedure will become effective May 1, 2027.