About Jeff Chang

Like many other Californians, I moved here from the East Coast with my family when I was in junior high.  I attended high school in Davis, U.C. Berkeley as an undergrad and U.C. Davis for law school. I am proud to have grown up in Sacramento Valley, and worked in its fields and orchards as a young man.  My wife Linnell and I bought our first home and welcomed our first two children into the world in Redlands, California.  I love California and like to think that my work with California’s local governments has grown from that appreciation.

Although I’ve been practicing employee benefits law for over 40 years, I particularly enjoy working with cities, special districts, public hospitals, and the many public and quasi-public entities that are our local government.  About 25 years ago, I recognized that many California public agencies did not have access to experienced and knowledgeable employee benefits advice and advisors. This led me to refocus my practice on public sector employee benefits issues.

To promote a greater understanding of some of the special issues and challenges facing public employers’ benefits plans, I started FocusOnPublicBenefits. I believe that is one of a very few blogs on the subject, and I’ve kept it going for about 10 years.

If you are involved with the operation or administration of your entity’s employee benefits plans, or you provide investment advice, consulting advice, actuarial advice, accounting services, or recordkeeping services for such plans, please take a look at the wide variety of topics addressed in the blog. Most of the posts address more fundamental problems and issues – and remain as relevant today as when they were written.

If you come across a post that you’d like to discuss further, or if you’d like me to address a particular public sector employee benefits issue, please give me a call or email me.