Amanda S. Amert
Partner, Litigation
Amanda S. Amert is a partner in the Litigation Department and Chair of the ERISA Litigation Group, based in the firm’s Chicago office. She focuses her practice on ERISA litigation and has a wide variety of business litigation, appellate and arbitration experience. Businesses rely on her for help with ERISA litigation and counseling, contract disputes and financial services litigation. She has represented employers in federal courts around the country at the trial and appellate levels, in both individual and class-action lawsuits, and in disputes with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Amanda's experience in business litigation ranges from contract disputes to financial industry cases to employment litigation. Her ERISA litigation experience includes representing employers and ERISA plan service providers in federal courts around the country at the trial and appellate levels, in both individual and class action lawsuits, as well as counseling clients regarding developing practices designed to avoid fiduciary litigation. Most recently, Amanda led a team that secured a complete dismissal of an ERISA class action against a multi-national corporation, and is defending class actions around recordkeeping fees, target date funds and proprietary funds in defined contribution plans.
Amanda has also handled ERISA class action settlements, plan audits and investigations, and disputes between ERISA plan sponsors and service providers. Amanda writes and speaks on ERISA litigation topics and, with partner Craig C. Martin, is a co-author of PLI's ERISA Benefits Litigation Answer Book.
Chambers USA consistently ranks Amanda among the leading practitioners nationally in the area of ERISA litigation. In its 2025 edition, one client reported to Chambers that "when Amanda’s in action she's top notch. She has a mastery of the subject matter and is a generally great lawyer." The Legal 500 has also recognized Amanda for her work in labor and employment. Law360 has recognized Amanda as an "MVP" in Benefits for her ERISA litigation work, as well as a “Rising Legal Star,” and as one of “five employment lawyers under the age of 40 to watch,” noting her “deep expertise in ERISA law.” In 2018, 2022 and again in 2024, Crain’s named Amanda among Chicago’s “Notable Women Lawyers.”
Amanda maintains an active pro bono practice, which has included a range of civil, criminal and counseling matters.
Experience
Prior to joining Willkie, Amanda was a partner at another major law firm where she was Chair of the ERISA Litigation Practice and a co-chair of the firm’s Women’s Forum.
- Chambers USA – ERISA Litigation (Nationwide) (since 2018)
- Chicago Debates – 25 of 25 Influencers List (2022)
- Crain’s Chicago Business' – Notable Women in Law (2024, 2022, 2018)
- Crain’s Chicago Business' – Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting and Law (2022)
- Lawdragon 500 – Leading Litigators in America (since 2024)
- Legal 500 – Labor and Employment - ERISA Litigation (since 2016)
- Pro Bono and Public Interest Award, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2025)
- Illinois Super Lawyers – Business Litigation, Employee Benefits (since 2024)
- Best Lawyers in America – Litigation - ERISA (since 2023)
- Best Lawyers in America – Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (since 2023)
- Law360 – "MVP" – Benefits (ERISA)
- Law360 – “Rising Legal Star” ERISA Litigation
Amanda is chair of the board of the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services of Chicago, one of the first organizations in the United States to provide legal services regardless of an individual’s ability to pay.
She is a former longtime board member of Chicago Debates, whose mission is to advance the academic achievement and life success of Chicago’s urban youth through academic debate. Amanda is an alum of Leadership Greater Chicago, a 30-year-old non-profit organization that cultivates Chicago’s business, public and civic leaders through a deeper understanding of the issues facing the Chicago community.
Publications
- Co-Author, “The Year in ERISA Litigation: 2024 Trends and What We’re Watching in 2025,” Willkie Insights, January 2025
- Co-Author, “ERISA Benefits Litigation Answer Book,” Practising Law Institute, November 2022
- Co-Author, “Early Returns on Actuarial Equivalence Cases,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Winter 2019
- Co-Author, “Everything Old is New Again: Stock Drop Lawsuits on the Rise,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Summer 2019
- Co-Author, “Drawing the Line Between Possible and Plausible in Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Spring 2019
- Co-Author, “Fee Awards Under ERISA – The Long and Winding Road to ‘Some Success on the Merits,’” Employee Relations Law Journal, Autumn 2018
- Co-Author, “New Plaintiffs’ Firms Bring Increased ERISA Litigation Risks for Employers,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Summer 2018
- Co-Author, “What Happens After Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims Stemming from Denials of Benefits Survive a Motion to Dismiss,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Spring 2018
- Co-Author, “Equitable Relief under ERISA Following Amara,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Winter 2017
- Co-Author, “The Upward Trend in ERISA Class Action Class Action Settlements,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Autumn 2017
- Co-Author, “Cert Denial in Carolinas Electrical Workers Retirement Plan a Win for ERISA Plan Service Providers,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Summer 2017
- Co-Author, “A Deepening Split: Enforceability of Venue Selection Clauses Under ERISA,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Spring 2017
- Co-Author, “A Cautionary Note on Venue Selection Clauses in ERISA Plans,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Winter 2016
- Co-Author, “Providers Beware: Failure to Keep Track Means You Have to Pay It Back,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Autumn 2016
- Co-Author, “When the Shoe Doesn’t Fit: Provider-Plaintiffs’ Standing in the Face of Anti-Assignment Clauses,” Employee Relations Law Journal, May 9, 2016
- Co-Author, “Will the Duty to Monitor Erode ERISA’s Limitations Provisions?” Employee Relations Law Journal, Spring 2016
- Co-Author, “The ERISA Trifecta: Injury, Standing, and Equitable Relief,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Winter 2015
- Co-Author, “When Is a Church Not a Church?” Employee Relations Law Journal, Autumn 2015
- Co-Author, “A Farewell to Yard-Man,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Summer 2015
- Co-Author, “Perez v. Bruister: An Appraisal,” Employee Relations Law Journal, Spring 2015
Speaking Engagements
- Speaker, Benefits Briefing: Recent Litigation Affecting Plan Sponsors Webinar, The American Benefits Council, August 8, 2017
- Co-Chair, 14th National Forum on ERISA Litigation, American Conference Institute, March 1, 2017
- Co-Chair, American Conference Institute's 11th National Forum on ERISA Litigation, March 1, 2016
Credentials
Education
Duke University School of Law, J.D., 2000 Williams College, B.A., 1997
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
United States Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit, 2016 United States Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, 2003 United States Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, 2001 United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 2017 United States Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit, 2004 United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2001 United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2002 United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, 2002 Illinois Supreme Court, 2000