Christine O’Connell, '21, Receives 2021 Alvin D. Lurie Award

The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel

Washington, D.C. – The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (ACEBC®) has named Christine O’Connell from the University of Chicago and Sara Kizer from Arizona State University as the winners of the College’s 2021 Writing Competition Awards.

Ms. O’Connell won the 2021 Alvin D. Lurie Award for her paper entitled “Reconciling ERISA Preemption and Tenets of Trust Common Law.” Ms. Kizer’s winning entry entitled “All or Nothing: Mandating SelfFunded Employer Sponsored Health Plan Reporting to State All-Payer Claims Databases” won the 2021 Sidney M. Perlstadt Award.

Izzy Goldowitz, Chair of the Student Writing Competition Award Committee, will present the awards at the College’s 22nd Annual Induction Ceremony to be held on Saturday, February 5, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana. ACEBC® is a not-for-profit organization whose mission statement is: "Fostering excellence in the practice of employee benefits law and advancing public understanding of employee benefits.” The College advances its mission by encouraging the study and development of employee benefits laws and of significant legal and social policy issues impacting the regulation and management of pension, retirement, group health, welfare, and disability plans. It pursues those goals by initiating professional discussions and highlevel symposiums of significant issues, offering a searchable data base of Fellows who are willing to serve as expert witnesses and/or mediators, cosponsoring continuing legal education programs, and recognizing the achievements of distinguished employee benefits attorneys.