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David Kirchner

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On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hughes v. Northwestern University that the plaintiff-participants will get another opportunity to assert that the Northwestern retirement plan fiduciaries violated ERISA’s duty of prudence based on the following: the number of investment options included on the plan menu; the decision to contract with multiple recordkeepers…

In the latest installment of our Ropes & Gray podcast series addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) plans to consider as part of their litigation risk management strategy, ERISA and benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein, benefits consulting group principal David Kirchner, and benefits consultant Aneisha Worrell revisit the Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulation…

In this fifth episode of our Ropes & Gray podcast series addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) plans to consider as part of their litigation risk management strategy, David Kirchner and Jack Eckart, both from our benefits consulting group, discuss pooled employer plans (or PEPs). PEPs allow employers to join a group…

Litigation & enforcement partner Dan Ward, benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein, and benefits consulting principal David Kirchner co-hosted a webinar on May 25 focused on the recent wave of retirement plan litigation focused on not-for-profits and how to mitigate risk for employers and plan sponsors. Plaintiffs’ firms are aggressively targeting 403(b)/401(k) retirement plan sponsors in a…

In this fourth episode of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans to consider as part of their litigation risk management strategy, ERISA & benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein speaks with Ed McNicholas, co-chair of the data, privacy & cybersecurity practice, and David Kirchner, a principal in

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In this second episode of our Ropes & Gray podcast series addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) plans to consider as part of their litigation risk management strategy, ERISA & benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein and benefits principal David Kirchner discuss the importance of implementing a robust cybersecurity program for benefit plans to…

This article was originally published by Law360 on Feb. 16, 2021.

The status of alternative investments as viable options on 401(k) plan menus received a significant boost on Jan. 21, as a California federal judge granted defendants’ motion to dismiss in the latest development in the closely watched Anderson v. Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee…

Welcome to the first in a series of Ropes & Gray podcasts addressing emerging issues for fiduciaries of 401(k) and 403(b) plans to consider as part of their fiduciary process and litigation risk management strategy.

In this episode, ERISA & benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein, benefits principal David Kirchner and benefits consultant Aneisha Worrell discuss…

On June 1, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A. that participants of defined benefit plans lack standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to sue fiduciaries for alleged failures to satisfy their duties under ERISA, if the participants cannot establish that they have experienced individual financial loss or…

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, litigation & enforcement partner Dan Ward, ERISA and benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein, and benefits principal David Kirchner discuss the recent $12 million settlement that has been agreed to in the Oracle 401(k) fee litigation, which includes some non-monetary requirements that could have a ripple effect on the routine…