John A. Litwinski is an associate in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm’s Chicago office. As a member of the Trial Department, John handles many types of general civil litigation matters, and has extensive experience in the area of employment benefits litigation and counseling under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
John’s ERISA practice involves counseling and representing employers, plan fiduciaries and trustees in matters concerning employee benefit plans. He regularly defends companies, officers and directors, and other alleged ERISA plan fiduciaries against claims for breach of fiduciary duty in class actions arising after company stock price declines or changes to pension plans. John represents companies in disputes regarding changes to retiree medical benefits, including a recent case for a major manufacturer involving the transfer of billions of dollars in health care liabilities to a VEBA. He also represents companies and their ERISA plans in defending claims for wrongful denial of employee benefits. John recently published an article on “Fiduciary Breach Suits Against Companies, Officers, and Directors Under ERISA” in Volume 20 of the Benefits Law Journal.
Before joining McDermott, John was an associate in the litigation department of a large law firm in Boston. While in law school, John was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and taught legal research and writing to first-year law students.
John is admitted to practice in state court in Illinois, and in various federal courts in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan. John has appeared Pro Hac Vice for clients in various other states.
Education
- Georgetown University, J.D., 2001
- London School of Economics and Political Science, M.Sc., 1998
- Johns Hopkins University, B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa), 1997
Languages Spoken
- English
- German
- Polish
