Samantha J. Prince

Associate Professor of Law and Director of Legal Analysis and Writing

Samantha Prince is an associate professor of law and the director of Legal Analysis & Writing. Her research and scholarship focus on outdated employee benefits laws negatively impacting workers in our evolving world. Prof. Prince has primarily written on 401(k) retirement benefits and has therefore been dubbed by the media as “an expert in company benefit schemes” and a “expert on retirement plans.” Her goal is to shed light on current issues so that change can happen. For instance, Professor Prince has analyzed the current 401(k) plan rules, such as the permissible vesting schedules to show the negative impact on retirement savings during a time when workers are more transient. As part of this research, Professor Prince illuminated how employee churn, which can be deliberate and part of the business model in some businesses like Amazon, negatively impacts workers, particularly those of color, from the standpoint of their 401(k) retirement savings. Her work continues to focus on the unfairness of 401(k) vesting schedules.

Professor Prince has also advocated for employee benefits transparency and the need for companies to stop “benefits washing” through her scholarship. Her work in this area was recently spotlighted in two Forbes’ articles. 

Professor Prince has written on the taxation of abortion-related travel benefits. In a recent article, she discussed the difficulties associated with travel to obtain reproductive care, as well as the tax ramifications of employers providing travel benefits. Additionally, Professor Prince has published articles regarding the platform economy. Workers are not easily classified as either employees or independent contractors. Professor Prince has written on myriad issues pertaining to Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and other app-based companies.

Professor Prince embraces opportunities to advise on important employment law and employee benefits issues by submitting comments to federal agencies. She has written to the U.S. Dept. of Treasury, U.S. Dept. of Labor, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on various issues including 401(k) vesting schedules and non-competes.

Professor Prince founded and moderates “Inside Entrepreneurship Law” — a blog featuring posts written by students that provide helpful legal information to entrepreneurs and their counsel. Additionally, she implemented mobile student-led entrepreneurial workshops on various topics.

Professor Prince’s interests in partnering with entrepreneurs stem from her extensive practice experience. For over 20 years, she partnered with entrepreneurs during their start-up phases and beyond. At Hedger and Hedger, a boutique transactional law firm, she handled business transactions, including tax, contracts (domestic and international), mergers/acquisitions, employee classification issues, and securities offerings (private and public). She also represented a company through its IPO and afterward as the primary drafter of its securities disclosure documents. A significant part of her practice was in employee benefits including retirement plan design and operation. Professor Prince brings her expertise in this area to her scholarship.

Select Publications by Professor Prince

The Effects of 401(k) Vesting Schedules — In Numbers, 134 Yale L. J. F. 1 (2024) (with Tim Azizkhan, Cassidy R. Prince, and Luke Gorman).

“An LLC by Any Other Name Is Still Not a Corporation,” 54 Seton Hall L. Rev. 1105 (2024) (with Joshua P. Fershee)

“Deducting Dobbs: The Tax Treatment of Abortion-Related Travel Benefits,” 98 Tul. L. Rev. 1 (2023) (lead article)

“Megacompany Employee Churn Meets 401(k) Vesting Schedules: A Sabotage on Workers’ Retirement Wealth,” 41 Yale L. & Pol’y Rev. 1 (2022)(lead article).

“Employee Turnover & Partial Plan Terminations,” 6 NYU Review of Employee Benefits 1 (2022).

“The Shoe Is About to Drop: Understanding the Current Worker Classification Landscape in Preparation for a Changed World,” 52 Mem. L. Rev. 101 (2022).

“The AB5 Experiment — Should States Adopt California’s Worker Classification Law?,” 11 Am. Univ. Bus. L. Rev. 43 (2022).