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There are almost 600,000 U.S. 401(k) plans. These plans
collectively cover more than 100 million participants. They have
nearly $6 trillion in assets. Two principal laws governing
these plans, the Internal Revenue Code (the "Code") and
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), set out a
series of rules that are mind-numbingly complex. In or about 2007,
a plaintiff class action law firm sued a dozen very large 401(k)
plans of name-brand employers generally alleging plan
mismanagement. What started as a "trickle" of lawsuits
morphed into a torrent in the years that followed, and there is no
sign of the trend abating. Plan sponsors have responded by focusing