Emily Seymour Costin

• Defending the country’s largest professional employee organization in a putative class action brought in the Northern District of Georgia alleging various claims for breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA arising from investment selections and fees in its 401(k) plan. 
• Defending one of the country’s top universities in a breach of fiduciary duty action regarding its 403(b) plan for faculty and staff. 
• Defending an actuarial consulting firm against claims of breach of fiduciary duty, actuarial malpractice, fraud, and conspiracy.
• Representing a health insurance company in various disputes with out-of-network providers across the country claiming entitlement to benefits based on patient assignments. 
• Represented four NBA teams and sponsors of the American Basketball Association Players’ Retirement Plan in a class action alleging various violations of ERISA arising from administration of the plan, as well as other individual claims for benefits under the ABA plan. 
• Represented a plan sponsor and fiduciary in arbitration before a three-judge AAA panel in connection with claims of breach of contract and the covenant of good faith and fair dealing against the plan’s recordkeeper.
• Represented the American Benefits Council as amicus curiae in an appeal before the Fifth Circuit. 
• Represented former fiduciaries of an ESOP in class action litigation in the Middle District of North Carolina alleging breaches of fiduciary duty arising from the company’s stock redemption offer to shareholders. 
• Represented a large regional bank in a putative class action alleging breaches of the fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty and an alleged duty to communicate complete and accurate information to plan participants and beneficiaries brought in the Eastern District of Washington.

Emily Seymour Costin is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office, where she focuses her practice primarily on the defense of employee benefits disputes and counseling employers, plan sponsors, and fiduciaries on litigation avoidance strategies. Emily represents plan sponsors, insurers, and fiduciaries in individual, mass action, and class action litigation over claims for benefits and breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA. She has experience litigating various types of ERISA disputes, including those involving excessive fees, employer stock, benefit termination, and health care matters.

In addition, Emily has represented clients in a variety of other types of disputes, including employment, securities, insurance, breach of contract, health care, and government contracts/FCA-related claims, as well as guiding clients through regulatory and internal investigations. Emily is the chair of the ABA’s Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB), a member of the editorial advisory board of the Benefits Law Journal, and a contributing author to the BNA treatise ERISA Litigation. In 2018, Emily was named a “Rising Star” by Law360, and a Washington, DC Super Lawyer.

Emily is a co-chair of the firm’s Women’s Initiative, and actively participates in the firm’s diversity and hiring committees.

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• California

Education

• The George Washington University (J.D., 2005)
• University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 2000)

Memberships