Karen A. Simonsen is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm’s Chicago office. She is a member of the Firm’s Employee Benefits Department, where she counsels privately and publicly-held corporations and large partnerships on a broad range of employee benefits matters. Her practice focuses 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 has 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
