Writing Competition Winners

2022

2022 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Annette DeSipio
Paper: Sulyma and Its Aftermath: ERISA’s Fiduciary Statute of Limitations and the Meaning of Knowledge

2022 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Taylor Costanzo
Paper: A Dream Deferred: An Analysis of the Current Retirement Landscape and the Changes Needed to Save the American Retirement Dream

2021

2021 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Sara Kizer
Paper: All or Nothing: Mandating Self-Funded Employer Sponsored Health Plan Reporting to State All-Payer Claims Databases

2021 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Christine O’Connell
Paper: Reconciling ERISA Preemption and Tenets of Trust Common Law

2020

2020 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Rachel Baker Mann
Paper: The Employment Health Nexus: Sufficiently Entrenched to Survive Healthcare-for-All

2020 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Rebecca A. Miller
Paper: ERISA Church Plan Litigation in the Aftermath of Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton

2019

2019 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Brandon M. Hall
Paper: ERISA Preemption of State Automatic Enrollment IRAs: The Case for Maintaining Federal Uniformity

2019 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Johnny D. Derogene
Paper: Does The Burden of Proof In ERISA §510 And ADEA Cases Need Recalibration?

2018

2018 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Gregory Moran
Paper: Breaches Within Breaches – The Crossroads of ERISA Fiduciary Responsibilities and Data Security

2018 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Rebecca Barker
Paper: Is Estate of Barton v. ADT Security Services Pension Plan Good Law?

2017

2017 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Michelle Streifthau-Livizos
Paper: Protecting the Loyal Hardworker: The Need for a Fair Analysis of Venue Clauses in ERISA Plans

2017 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Alex Engelkamp
Paper: Approaching Paid Sick Leave: Compliance or Preemption?

2016

2016 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Abbey L. Hendricks
Paper: Multiemployer Pension Plans: Reforms to Sustain and Innovate

2016 Alvin D. Lurie Award
Author: Deepa Das Acevedo
Paper: Addressing the Retirement Crisis with Shadow 401(k)s

2015

2015 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Brian J. Fahey
Paper: Make-Whole Relief: Non-Economic Loss, Punitive Damages & Back-Pay Availability Under ERISA §502(a)(3) in the Wake of Cigna Corp. v. Amara

2015 Clarin M. Swartz Award
Author: Lindsay Ryan Lowe
Paper: Disability Insurance Standards Differentiate Between Substance Use and Physical Health Conditions: Can a Claim Under the Americans with Disabilities Act Successfully Contest These Discriminatory Standards?

2014

2014 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Tyrone B. Crawford
Paper: An Apology for Stephan: Why the Fiduciary Exception is Necessary

2013

2013 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Madeline Sexton Lewis
Paper: The Legislative History of the Nondiscrimination Provision of Qualified Retirement Plans

2013 Clarin M. Swartz Award
Author: Mark Franke
Paper: The Detroit Pension Bankruptcy Trust: A Proposal for the Resolution of Detroit’s Pension Obligations under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code

2012

2012 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Emily C. Lechner
Paper: Relief Under ERISA: Where the Court’s Interpretation Stands and the Need to Redefine Its Analysis to Reflect the Trust-Law Basis of ERISA

2012 Clarin M. Swartz Award
Author: Jason E. Shapiro
Paper: Employee Benefits Law: The Hidden Gap Enabling Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Employment

2011

2011 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Robin Bara
Paper: Defining "Other Appropriate Equitable Relief" Post Sereboff: Support for the Adoption of the Made Whole Doctrine as a Default Rule in ERISA Plans

2011 Clarin M. Swartz Award
Author: Frances McCorkle
Paper: Automatic IRAs: A Step in the Wrong Direction

2010

2010 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Eirik Cheverud
Paper: Reforming the United States Retirement System in the Wake of the Great Recession

2010 Clarin M. Swartz Award
Author: Jessica Barclay-Strobel
Paper: Shooting the Messenger: How Enforcement of FLSA and ERISA Is Thwarted by Courts’ Interpretations of the Statutes’ Anti-Retaliation and Remedies Provisions

2009

2009 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Christopher Frankenfield, U. of Virginia Law School
Paper: The Relationship Between ERISA, State and Local Health Care Experimentation, and the Need for National Health Care Reform

2009 Clarin M. Schwartz Award
Author: Raymond A. Franklin, St. John's U. Law School
Paper: Vesting Retirement Benefits: Revisiting Yard-Man and its Unacknowledged PresumptionVesting Retirement Benefits: Revisiting Yard-Man and its Unacknowledged Presumption

2008

2008 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Brian A. Benko, John Marshall Law School
Paper: Not All Plan Failures are Created Equal: Inventing the Code §409A Correction Program

2008 Clarin M. Schwartz Award
Author: Timothy Kennedy U. of Virginia Law School
Paper: Shifting Responsibility for Providing Retiree Health Benefits from Employers to Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations

2007

2007 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Marc Adler, Seton Hall U. Law School

2007 Clarin M. Schwartz Award
No award in 2007

2006

2006 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Author: Benjamin Takis, Cardozo Law School

2006 Clarin M. Schwartz Award
Author: Brian Neulander, Temple U. Law School

2005

2005 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award
Amanda Walls, Akron U. Law School

2005 Clarin M. Schwartz Award
Jamie Lund, Chicago U. Law School