Dana Muir

Robert L. Dixon Collegiate Professor of Business
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Business Law
Area Chair of Business Law

Education
JD University of Michigan 1990
MBA University of Detroit 1980
AB University of Michigan 1978
Biography

Professor Muir is a nationally recognized expert on fiduciary and remedial issues especially in the fields of investments, pension plan funding, plan investment selection and investment policies, and investment advice. She is a passionate supporter of Ross School research showing that business can play a positive role in society and the way law supports business in playing that role. Her research reaches extensively into her peer academic community (both domestically and internationally), the legal community at-large, as well as the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the U.S. government. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts. Professor Muir was the Editor-in-Chief of the annual supplements to Employee Benefits Law, the treatise for the employee benefits field and is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel as well as a member of the College's Board of Governors.

Professor Muir was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on The Future of Insurance and Asset Management. She also has been active in a variety of government-related policy roles. As a member of the Employee Benefits Security Administration's Advisory Group, she chaired the DOL working group on Defined Benefit Plan Funding and Discount Rate Issues. She served at PBGC during the implementation of one investment policy and the subsequent review of that policy. She spent her sabbatical in 2000 as a Congressional Fellow in the office of Representative (Rep.) Robert Portman (currently Senator Portman).

Professor Muir holds an Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship at the University of Michigan in recognition of undergraduate teaching excellence. She was a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching.

Professor Muir is a past member of the board of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and served as a board member and chaired the compensation committee at Aerospace Corporation. She has acted as an expert witness on fiduciary issues. Prior to joining the Ross School, Professor Muir practiced law at national law firms based in Chicago and Detroit and held a number of human resources positions at Chrysler Corporation.
 

Latest Faculty News & Research
An Agency Costs Theory of Employee Benefits Law
Authors
Muir, D.
Published Date
2022
Authors
Muir, D.
Source
Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law
Volume
43
Pages
361
Covid-19 and U.S. Private Pensions
Authors
Muir, D and Turner, J
Published Date
2022
Authors
Muir, D and Turner, J
Source
Benefit Quarterly
Sustainable Investing and Fiduciary Obligations in Pension Funds: The Need for Sustainable Regulation
Authors
Muir, D
Published Date
2022
Authors
Muir, D
Source
American Business Law Journal
Volume
59
Pages
621
Sustainable Investment Options in Defined Contribution Plans: Intergenerational Issues
Authors
Muir, D.
Published Date
2022
Authors
Muir, D.
Source
New York University Benefits and Executive Compensation Journal
Amicus Brief in: The ERISA Industry Council v. City of Seattle
Authors
Muir, D and multiple law school professors
Published Date
11/2020
Authors
Muir, D and multiple law school professors
Source
Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Volume
xx
Issue
xx
Pages
xx
The Limited Role of Fiduciary Obligation in Employee Benefit Plans
Authors
Muir, D
Published Date
2020
Authors
Muir, D
Source
NYU REVIEW OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AND EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Volume
xx
Issue
xx
Pages
xx
Fiduciary Obligations for Environmental, Social, and Governance Investments (lead article)
Authors
Muir, Dana
Published Date
06/2019
Authors
Muir, Dana
Source
New York University Benefits and Executive Compensation Journal
Volume
'19
Issue
x
Pages
1-31
How Behavioral Science Ultimately Fails Retirement Savers: A Noble Experiment
Authors
Dana M. Muir
Published Date
12/2019
Authors
Dana M. Muir
Source
American Business Law Journal
Volume
56
Issue
4
Pages
707-770
Decentralized Enforcement to Combat Financial Wrongdoing in Pensions
Authors
Dana M. Muir
Published Date
2015
Authors
Dana M. Muir
Source
American Business Law Journal
Volume
53
Issue
1
Pages
33-95
Choice Architecture and the Locus of Fiduciary Obligation in Defined Contribution Plans
Authors
Muir, D
Published Date
11/2013
Authors
Muir, D
Source
Iowa Law Review
Volume
99
Issue
1
Pages
1-56
The Future of Securities Class Actions against Foreign Companies: China and Comity Concerns
Authors
Muir, D, Liu, J., Xu, Haiyan
Published Date
2013
Authors
Muir, D, Liu, J., Xu, Haiyan
Source
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Volume
46
Issue
4
Pages
1315-1360
Default Settings in Defined Contribution Plans -- A Comparative Approach to Fiduciary Obligation and the Role of Markets
Authors
Dana Muir
Published Date
12/2012
Authors
Dana Muir
Source
ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law (formerly Labor Lawyer)
Building Value in the Australian Defined Contribution System: A Values Perspective
Authors
Dana Muir
Published Date
2011
Authors
Dana Muir
Source
Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal
Volume
33
Pages
93-135
Justice Sotomayor on the Supreme Court: A Boon for Business?
Authors
Dana Muir (lead), D. Baumer, S. Greene, G. Mark & R. Thomas
Published Date
2009
Authors
Dana Muir (lead), D. Baumer, S. Greene, G. Mark & R. Thomas
Source
Virginia Law & Business Review
Volume
4
Pages
187-230
25 Years of Pension Reform (Edward Elgar)
Authors
Forman, J., Muir, D., Turner, J.
Published Date
2022
Authors
Forman, J., Muir, D., Turner, J.
Source
Edward Elgar
Pages
370
The Evolution of the U.S. Pension System 1994-2019
Kowiakowski, J., Stevens, Y
25 Years of Pension Reform (in press 2021 Edward Elgar)
Authors
Forman, J., Muir, D., Turner, J.
Published Date
2022
Authors
Forman, J., Muir, D., Turner, J.
Source
Edward Elgar
Pages
370-391
The Evolution of the U.S. Pension System 1994-2019
Kowiakowski, J., Stevens, Y
Firm Governance: The Anatomy of Fiduciary Obligations in Business (in press 2021)
Authors
Dana Muir
Published Date
2021
Authors
Dana Muir
Source
Cambridge University Press
Pages
189-204
Fiduciary Relationships in Employee Benefit Plans
Arthur Laby & Jacob Russell
Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law
Authors
Muir, D
Published Date
05/2019
Authors
Muir, D
Source
Oxford University Press
Fiduciary Principles in Pension Law
Criddle, E. et al.
Social Security and Pension Reform: International Perspectives (NOTE: entire book, including our chapter is largely a republiction of the 2013 Poznan book but repackaged for the U.S. market)
Authors
Turner, J., Muir, D
Published Date
2014
Authors
Turner, J., Muir, D
Source
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
Pages
299-323
Financial Literacy, Education, and Advice
Szczepanski, M., Turner, J.
Old-Age Crisis and Pension Reform. Where Do We Stand?
Authors
Turner, J., Muir D.
Published Date
2013
Authors
Turner, J., Muir D.
Source
Poznan University of Technology
Pages
157-175
Financial Literacy and Financial Advice
Marek Szczepanski
The Market for Retirement Financial Advice
Authors
Turner, J., Muir, D.
Published Date
2013
Authors
Turner, J., Muir, D.
Source
Oxford University Press
Pages
13-45
The Market for Financial Advisers
O.S. Mitchell & K. Smetters
Imagining the Ideal Pension System: International Perspectives
Authors
Muir, Dana & Turner, J.
Published Date
2011
Authors
Muir, Dana & Turner, J.
Source
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
Pages
19-43
Imagining the Ideal U.S. Pension System
Dana Muir & John Turner
Imagining the Ideal pension System: International Perspectives
Authors
Muir, Dana & Turner, J.
Published Date
2011
Authors
Muir, Dana & Turner, J.
Source
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
Pages
1-17
Constructing the Ideal Pension System: Cross-Country Perspectives of Eleven Authors
Dana Muir & John Turner
Protecting Pension Rights in the Economic Crisis
Authors
Muir, Dana
Published Date
2011
Authors
Muir, Dana
Source
Intersentia
Pages
123-148
The Effect of the Financial Crisis on U.S. Pensions - A Perspective on Financial Services Regulatory Reform
Yves Stevens
Personal Choice in Provision of Retirement Income: Meeting the Needs of Older People
Authors
Muir, Dana
Published Date
2009
Authors
Muir, Dana
Source
Edward Elgar
Pages
229-249
The Proliferation of Individual Pension Account Options: A Challenge for Institutional Oversight
Gerald Hughes & James Stewart
Employee Benefits Law Fall 2013 Cumulative Supplement
Authors
Muir, D
Published Date
2013
Authors
Muir, D
Source
Bloomberg BNA
978-1-57018-936-4
Spring 2013 Cumulative Supplement to Employee Benefits Law
Authors
Muir, Dana
Published Date
2013
Authors
Muir, Dana
Source
Bloomberg BNA
Spring 2013 Supplement to Employee Benefits Law
Authors
Dana Muir
Published Date
04/2013
Authors
Dana Muir
Source
Bloomberg BNA
978-1-61746-053-1
Employee Benefits Law (3rd ed.)
Authors
J. Lewis, M. Rumeld & I Berio LeBeau (Dana Muir & others, Senior Editors)
Published Date
2012
Authors
J. Lewis, M. Rumeld & I Berio LeBeau (Dana Muir & others, Senior Editors)
Source
Bloomberg BNA
978-1-57018-936-4
Imagining the Ideal Pension System: International Perspectives
Authors
Dana Muir & John Turner
Published Date
2011
Authors
Dana Muir & John Turner
Source
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
0880993812
2010 Supplement to Employee Benefits Law
Authors
Dana Muir
Published Date
2010
Authors
Dana Muir
Source
BNA/ABA
1-57018-128-4
2009 Supplement to Employee Benefits Law
Authors
Dana Muir
Published Date
2009
Authors
Dana Muir
Source
BNA/ABA
1-57018-128-4