A Certified Public Accountant since 1985, Beth Dickstein is a partner in Sidley Austin's Chicago office who focuses on employee benefit matters. Ms. Dickstein 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. She has advised clients regarding the structuring of administrative and investment committees of 401(k) and other retirement plans. Ms. Dickstein has prepared ERISA compliance procedures for investment managers, has performed “mock” Department of Labor fiduciary audits and has trained plan investment committees regarding their fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA. In addition, Ms. Dickstein provides support to the Firm’s litigators in ERISA fiduciary duty and 401(k) fee lawsuits.
Ms. Dickstein represents numerous companies in the establishment and administration of pension, profit sharing and 401(k) plans, welfare plans, stock option plans, stock purchase plans, incentive compensation plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans. Ms. Dickstein's practice also focuses on executive compensation issues and employee benefit issues arising in connection with mergers, acquisitions and financings.
As a representative to the firm’s retirement plans committee, Ms. Dickstein 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 2010-2014 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 and 2014 for employee benefits and executive compensation. Ms. Dickstein is the chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.
Education:
J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School (1988) cum laude
B.S., University of Illinois (1985) with highest honors
Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Portfolios:
377 T.M., Qualified Plans - Investments (co-author)
365 T.M., ERISA — Fiduciary Responsibility and Prohibited Transactions (co-author)