Karen A. Simonsen is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm’s Chicago office. She counsels privately and publicly-held corporations and large partnerships on a broad range of employee benefits matters. She focuses her practice primarily on design and compliance issues related to qualified retirement plans, non-qualified deferred and equity compensation programs, and fiduciary issues.
A substantial portion of her practice consists of advising clients on fiduciary and plan investment matters. Karen has extensive experience counseling plan fiduciaries with respect to investment policies, alternative investments (e.g., derivatives, limited partnerships, real estate), prohibited transaction issues, investment management agreements, and payment of expenses from plan assets. She also has represented several clients in connection with audits by the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Karen is ranked as a leading labor and employment: benefits and compensation lawyer in the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of Chambers USA, as well as The Legal 500 United States. She has also spoken and written articles on plan investment and fiduciary matters.
Education
- Northwestern University School of Law, J.D., 1988
- Colorado State University, B.A., 1985
