Email: dcosta@jslex.com

Phone: (215) 351-0616

Dawn M. Costa

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With over 15 years of experience, Dawn Costa serves as the firm’s ERISA Practice Co-Leader and specializes in multiemployer benefit plan administration and compliance with federal law and regulations. Her areas of practice include litigating ERISA plan collections, creditor bankruptcy, plan and amendment drafting, Pension Protection Act compliance, withdrawal liability, and Internal Revenue Code requirements and fiduciary issues for large and small pension and welfare plans.

Dawn is recognized for her expertise in multiemployer benefit plan collections and has presented on that topic to the Finishing Industries Forum and AFL-CIO Lawyers’ Coordinating Committee ERISA Basics Seminar. She is the lead collections counsel for an international multiemployer pension fund and is responsible for coordinating a network of local counsel. To that end, Dawn is also responsible for the pension fund’s compliance and due diligence pertaining to employer withdrawal liability. Dawn also regularly advises several smaller multiemployer benefit plans on drafting and amending plan documents, fiduciary responsibilities, and prohibited transactions.

Before joining Jennings Sigmond in 2003, Dawn served as a judicial law clerk in the Superior Court of New Jersey. She practiced as a legal services attorney and represented union members in criminal, domestic relations, and real estate matters before shifting to full-time ERISA practice. Dawn is a New Jersey native and is active in dog rescue. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family, yoga, gardening, and working on her farm.

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Supreme Court of New Jersey
  • Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
  • United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Education

  • Rutgers School of Law – Camden, Juris Doctor, 2002
  • Rutgers University, Bachelor of Science, 1999