Beth J. Dickstein

Chicago, IL

BETH J. DICKSTEIN is a partner in Sidley’s Chicago office and is co-leader of the firm’s global Employee Benefits practice area. Beth regularly advises pension plan investors, as well as investment managers, regarding legal issues relating to various investment products, including the product’s fee arrangements and related party transactions. This has involved significant analysis of the fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA. Beth focuses on assisting investment managers, insurance companies and other financial institutions with structuring different types of alternative investment vehicles to be offered to ERISA plans, including hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate funds and bank collective investment trusts. Beth has prepared ERISA compliance procedures for investment managers, has performed “mock” Department of Labor fiduciary audits and has trained investment managers and plan investment committees regarding their fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA. She has advised clients regarding the structuring of administrative and investment committees of pension, 401(k) and 403(b) plans and regularly assists pension investment staff and pension investment committees with legal review of proposed investments and the drafting and negotiation of investment management agreements, consulting agreements, recordkeeping agreements and other service provider contracts. In addition, Beth provides support to the firm’s litigators in ERISA fiduciary duty and 401(k) fee lawsuits.

Beth represents numerous companies in the establishment and administration of pension, profit sharing and 401(k) plans. She also advises clients with respect to multiemployer plan matters generally and in connection with plant shutdowns and audit requests. Her practice also focuses on employee benefit issues arising in connection with mergers, acquisitions and financings.

As a representative to the firm’s retirement plans committee, Beth is involved in the legal analysis relating to the evaluation and selection of investments made by the firm’s retirement plans committee. She is recognized as a leading lawyer in the 2010–2020 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and is listed as “Lawyer of the Year" in The Best Lawyers in America 2014 for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law. She is also recommended in The Legal 500 US 2013–2017 for employee benefits and executive compensation. In the state of Illinois, Beth became a Certified Public Accountant in 1985.

Beth is a past chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and is co-author of the Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Portfolio Number 377 (published 2007, updated in 2020) and had primary responsibility for drafting a new portfolio titled “Qualified Plans - Investments”. She began working on the draft in 2002, completely updated draft for the changes made by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, and further updated the portfolio in 2013.

Education:
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D.(cum laude)
University of Illinois, B.S. Accountancy(with highest honors)

Fiduciary/Other Title I Issues

I have extensive experience representing employers, investment managers, plan fiduciaries and others concerning ERISA fiduciary duty obligations and other plan investment matters. I have spoken often regarding these topics.