Rebecca D'Arcy O'Reilly

Rebecca D’Arcy O’Reilly is co-chair of Bodman’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group. She represents benefit plan service providers, employers, boards, and benefit plan committees regarding complex ERISA issues and benefit plan arrangements. 

Ms. O’Reilly advises on matters concerning fiduciary obligations, the handling of plan assets, ERISA disclosure requirements, and service provider compensation arrangements. She also assists organizations with internal ERISA compliance audits, and handles federal investigations and voluntary corrective action with the Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

Ms. O’Reilly also represents clients in ERISA and related civil litigation, including class action litigation and multi-district litigation. She has tried cases in the federal district courts and represented clients before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Ms. O’Reilly is ranked as a “Future Star” in Michigan by Benchmark Litigation. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® 2022-2023, Michigan Super Lawyers 2021-2022, and in 2018 and 2020-2022 DBusiness Magazine listed her as a “Top Lawyer.” Crain’s Detroit Business selected her for its 2017 class of “40 Under 40” business leaders. 

She serves as a co-chair of the Federal Bar Association—Eastern District of Michigan Chapter’s Appellate Practice Committee and ERISA Committee. Ms. O’Reilly serves on the Board of Trustees for the City of Grosse Pointe Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the City of Grosse Pointe, and on the Board of Trustees of University Liggett School. She is a governing member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and was the chair of the DSO’s debut annual New Year’s Eve Gala in 2014. 

Ms. O’Reilly was the founder and managing member of RDO Benefits Counsel PLLC. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable John D. Rainey of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas before her move to Michigan. Prior to her clerkship, Ms. O’Reilly practiced employee benefits law with a Washington, D.C. law firm. 

Ms. O’Reilly is a cum laude graduate of The Notre Dame Law School, where she served as the executive symposium editor for the Notre Dame Law Review. While there, Ms. O’Reilly received the A. Harold Weber Writing Award for Excellence in Legal Writing.

Honors, Awards, and Recognition

• The Best Lawyers in America® 2022-2023, Litigation-ERISA
• Crain’s Detroit Business “40 Under 40,” 2017
• Michigan Super Lawyers 2021-2022, Employee Benefits
• DBusiness Magazine “Top Lawyers” 2018 and 2020-2022, Employee Benefits Law and Litigation-Labor Employment Benefits
• Benchmark Litigation 2018-2023, Future Star
• Michigan Rising Stars 2010-2014, Employee Benefits

Professional Affiliations

• Federal Bar Association – Eastern District of Michigan Chapter
  • Appellate Practice Committee, Co-Chair
  • ERISA Committee, Co-Chair

Civic, Cultural and Community Activities

• City of Grosse Pointe Foundation, Board of Trustees
• University Liggett School, Board of Trustees
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Governing Member
  • DSO Debut Annual New Years Eve Gala 2014, Chair

Publications

• Co-Author (with David B. Walters), “COVID Related Distributions from Retirement Plans | Part II,” Bodman COVID-19 Response Team Update, April 2020
• Co-Author (with David B. Walters), “Modification of the Treatment of Over the Counter Medical Products as Qualified Medical Expenses,” Bodman COVID-19 Response Team Update, April 2020
• Co-Author (with David B. Walters), “COVID Related Distributions from Retirement Plans,” Bodman COVID-19 Response Team Update, April 2020
• Co-Author (with David B. Walters), “Continuing Group Health and Welfare Benefits for Employees on Furlough or Layoff,” Bodman COVID-19 Response Team Update, April 2020
• “Is ERISA Ready for a New Generation of State Health Care Reform?: Preemption, Innovation, and Expanding Access to Health Care Coverage,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor & Employment Law (2005)
• “The Legacy of Dames & Moore v Regan: The Twilight Zone of Concurrent Authority Between the Executive and Congress and a Proposal for a Judicially Manageable Nondelegation Doctrine,” Notre Dame Law Review (2003)

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