School
Expertise
Regina T. Jefferson is a nationally recognized authority on pension law, employee benefits, and tax law. In addition to teaching and producing a rich body of scholarship in these areas, she has been actively involved in the policy development of these fields. She has testified before Congress and briefed Congressional staff on employee benefits and tax topics. Professor Jefferson also was a delegate to the First White House Summit on Retirement Income Savings. In 2015, she was appointed by the President of the United States to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's Advisory Committee for a three year term; and in 2019 she was reappointed for a consecutive three year term. She also currently serves as an expert on taxation to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
Professor Jefferson joined the CUA faculty in 1992. She served as the Dean of the Law School from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019, and also served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 2000 and 2001. Prior to joining the faculty, she was a Tax Law Specialist at the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service in the Employee Plans Division, where she specialized in qualified employee plans. From 1990 through 1992, she was a teaching fellow in the Graduate Teaching Program for Future Law Professors at Georgetown University, where her research and teaching focused on the tax aspects of private pension plans. Before attending law school, Professor Jefferson worked in the pension actuarial field.
Professor Jefferson’s scholarship focuses primarily on employee benefits and tax law. She has written extensively on the re-distributional impact of the private retirement system, the confluence of pension and tax law, the tax and actuarial aspects of the funding limitations of defined benefit plans, and the risks of defined contribution plans.
Professor Jefferson was selected as a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefits, and the National Academy of Social Insurance. She is a member of the Pension Rights Center Board of Directors and the Institute on Retirement Security Academic Advisory Board. She also is a former chair of the Employee Benefit Section of the Association of American Law Schools. From August 2020 to November 2021, Professor Jefferson chaired the Sister Thea Bowman Committee at Catholic University, which was charged with examining the University's current practices, and making recommendations to promote racial equality in all aspects of its operations.
Professor Jefferson earned a B.S. degree in mathematics from Howard University, a J.D. degree from George Washington University, and an LL.M. degree from Georgetown University.
Research and Writing
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Defined Benefit Plan Funding: How Much is Too Much?, 44 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 1 (1993).
The Earned Income Tax Credit: Thou Goest Whither? A Critique of Existing Proposals to Reform the Earned Income Tax Credit, 68 Temple Law Review 143 (1995).
Restructuring the Earned Income Tax Credit: A Response to Reform Proposals, 68 Tax Notes 1489 (1995); 95 State Tax Notes 168-34 (1995).
The American Dream Savings Account: A Dream or a Nightmare?, in Taxing America (M.L. Fellows and K. Brown, eds., N.Y.U. Press, 1996).
A Farewell to Pension Policy: The Impact of Flexible IRAs on Current Tax Policy 69 Temple Law Review 1451 (1996).
Defined Contribution Plans: Risky Business for Plan Participants, A Questionable Model for Social Security, Framing The Social Security Debate, (Brookings Institute, ed., 1998).
MSAs: Windfalls for the Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise, 48 Catholic Law Review 685 (1999).
Rethinking the Risks of Defined Contribution Plans, 4 florida Tax Review 607 (2000).
Striking the Balance In Cash Balance Plans, 49 Buffalo Law Review 513 (2001).
Social Security Reform: Impacts and Consequences 58 Washington & Lee Law Review 1287 (Fall 2001).
Retirement Security and Defined Contribution Plans: Hearing Before the Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives, 107th Congress 77-84 (2002) (Testimony).
Post Enron Pension Reform: Where Do We Go From Here?, New York University Review of Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation §10 (2003).
The Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Meals and Lodging, in LexisNexis Matthew Bender Publication (2005).
Redistribution in the Private Retirement System: Who Wins and Who Loses?, 53 Howard University Law Review 283 (2010).
Balancing Greater Protection and Individual Choice in 401(k) Plans, in beyond economic efficiency and tax law (K. Brown and D. Brennen, eds.,) (2013).
Increasing Coverage in Today's Private Retirement System, 6 Drexel University Law Review 463 (2014).
"Let Them Eat Cake": Examining United States Retirement Savings Policy Through the Lens of International Human Rights Principles 31 Harvard Human Rights Journal 63 (2018).