Nicole Giambarrese

Workplace Solutions partner Nicole Giambarrese’s unique pedigree and 20 years of experience navigating the most critical employee benefits issues of the day from different perspectives puts her in prime position to counsel clients on this complex and ever-evolving legal and regulatory space. As the former general counsel of the New York City Police Pension Fund (NYCPPF), Nicole deploys decades of insight from the trenches and a 360-degree—and clear-eyed—view of the myriad opportunities and challenges facing employers and employees alike. A large portion of her current practice focuses on counseling local and state governmental employers and retirement systems on employee benefit issues and federal tax compliance on a national scale, as well as supporting and guiding clients with public pension plans.

Nicole is equally well-versed in the space where new technology intersects with tax and the law. As virtually every pension program in the country updates their systems and pivots toward innovation and efficiency, her firsthand experience in all phases of a pension system upgrade—from drafting the request for proposal to contracting, programming, and implementation—informs her ability to help clients maximize success and avoid potential pitfalls. Erudite in both big-picture considerations and detail-oriented enough to cut through the weeds, Nicole regularly provides in-house teams and developers the insight they need to meet legal specifications and build sound processes and tools that help her clients achieve their business goals.