R. Blake Crohan

• Representing a leading provider of risk and claims administration in a putative class action lawsuit regarding the imposition of a tobacco/nicotine surcharge on health plan participants.
• Representing a Fortune 500 company in a putative class action lawsuit challenging the company’s inclusion and retention of a stable value fund.
• Representing an investment advisor in a putative class action related to the fees and investment options offered in a 401(k) plan.
• Representing a Fortune 500 insurance, risk management, and consulting company in a lawsuit related to the termination of a former executive.
• Representing one of the United States’ leading hospitality companies, and its former chief executive officer, in a putative class action asserting claims for breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful denial of benefits.
• Representing a Fortune 500 technology and services company in a putative class action lawsuit alleging excessive recordkeeping fee claim in violation of ERISA.
• Representing companies in putative class actions alleging ERISA violations and breach of fiduciary duty from the selection of certain actuarial equivalence factors used to calculate benefits in defined benefit pension plans.
• Represented a multinational corporation in a lawsuit related to the denial of benefits and claims of breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA.
• Represented a Fortune 500 bank in a putative class action alleging the bank’s 401(k) plan offered funds with excessive fees and imprudent investments in violation of ERISA.
• Represented one of the leading graphic communications companies in North America in a putative class action lawsuit alleging the company’s 401(k) plan offered funds with expensive and imprudent investments and excessive recordkeeping fees in violation of ERISA.
• Represented a bottling company of a Fortune 100 beverage manufacturer and distributor in a class action lawsuit alleging breaches of fiduciary duty under ERISA for offering allegedly imprudent and expensive investments in its 401(k) plan and excessive recordkeeping fees.
• Represented a leading global contract research organization in a class action lawsuit alleging breach of fiduciary duty claims related to the company’s 401(k) plan for allegedly offering expensive and imprudent investments and paying expensive recordkeeping fees.
• Represented a subsidiary of one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers in multiple lawsuits related to the termination of former employees and benefits under the company’s supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP).

Blake Crohan represents employers, plan sponsors, insurers, and fiduciaries in litigation over employee benefits and fiduciary matters including investments, excessive fees, actuarial factors, and benefit terminations. He counsels clients on managing administrative claims and appeals and advises on ERISA fiduciary best practices and litigation avoidance strategies. Blake is recognized in 2025 and 2026’s Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch^® for his work in Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law.

Before joining Alston & Bird, Blake worked for a highly respected law firm in Louisiana representing companies in a variety of litigation matters. After law school, Blake worked as a federal law clerk to the Hon. Carl J. Barbier in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Blake earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where he was a William L. Crowe, Sr. Scholar, a designation for graduates in the top 10% of their class. He served as a case note and comment editor for the Loyola Law Review and was a member of the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court team. Blake earned his B.S. from Tulane University, where he was a member of the baseball team all four years.

Bar Admissions

• Georgia
• Louisiana

Education

• Loyola University New Orleans (J.D., 2016)
• Tulane University (B.S., 2013)

Memberships