Foreword to the first Edition

• Author: Ari Kaplan, Mitch Frazer
• Pages: 27-28

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FOREWORD

To the First Edition

Pension law is fascinating. At a human level, its impact on a rapidly

aging population cannot be overestimated. At a legal level, the chal-

lenge posed by issues in the f‌ield of pension law is unparalleled. Two

factors contribute to this challenge.

First, as a newly emerging area of law, its structure is not fully es-

tablished. Until that occurs, the predictability one needs and expects

from the legal system cannot be had. The ta sk of putting structure into

this area is made more diff‌icult by the fact that pension law is the inter-

section of a number of areas of law including contracts, trusts, labour

and employment, f‌iduciaries, and the Charter, all made more compli-

cated by an overlay of statutory regulation.

Second, pension law requires a person to analyze any given issue

from two very different perspectives. On the one hand, pension law

issues must be understood from a broad theoretic al perspective. On the

other hand, no understanding will be complete or accurate without a

descent into a morass of complicated, often-conf‌licting, detail.

Even a brief consideration of these factors explains the burning

need for a single text on pension law to which one can turn for educa-

tion and assistance. Until now, there has been no such text. Ari Ka-

plan’s Pension Law f‌ills the void.

Ari Kaplan has written a book that provides a framework within

which to understand pension law. It is balanced and comprehensive

in its treatment of the issues. But, in addition, the book explains and

explores the detailed considerations that underlie each issue. An enor-