Blais, Michael K.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Mike Blais counsels employers on all aspects of their employee benefit and compensation programs. His practice includes advising publicly traded and privately held employers, including tax-exempt organizations and church plan sponsors, with an emphasis on pension plans and matters arising under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. In addition to broad-based employee benefit plans, Mike has extensive experience with nonqualified deferred compensation plans and executive and equity compensation programs. He frequently advises the Firm's transactional attorneys on benefit and compensation aspects of mergers and acquisitions.

Mike's representative clients in recent matters include A. H. Belo Corporation, Alon USA, Belo Corp., Bon Secours Health System, Brinker International, and Total Petrochemicals USA.

Mike is also an enrolled actuary (retired status) under ERISA. Prior to joining Jones Day, he was a consulting actuary with a major international consulting firm for 11 years. Mike is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Bar Association (Employee Benefits/Executive Compensation Section).

Areas of Practice

• Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
• Energy
• Compensation & Benefits Counseling for Employers
• ESOPs & Other Stock-Based Plans
• Tax-Exempt Entities & Church Plans

Representative Cases

• Albertson's acquires New Bristol Farms
• Allied Riser Communications acquired by Cogent Communications Group
• Alon USA Energy acquires Edgington Oil from Apex Oil
• Alon USA Energy acquires Good Times Store
• Alon USA Energy acquires Paramount Petroleum for $407 million
• Arctic Glacier acquires A.T. Reynolds and Sons, Inc.
• Arctic Glacier acquires Bismack Huron Ice
• Arctic Glacier acquires California Ice for $190 million
• Arctic Glacier acquires International Ice
• Arctic Glacier acquires issued and outstanding capital stock of R&K Trucking
• Arctic Glacier acquires Knowlton Enterprises
• Arctic Glacier acquires Koldkist Pacific Cold Storage, and K, H & P , (2009)
• Arctic Glacier acquires Losquadro Ice Company
• Arctic Glacier acquires Michigan Pure Ice,
• Arctic Glacier acquires Northern Pure Ice Co
• Arctic Glacier acquires operations of Kar Ice , (2009)
• Arctic Glacier acquires Southeastern Michigan Ice Services
• Arctic Glacier acquires Springdale Ice Company and Diamond Ice Cube Company
• Arctic Glacier acquires Taylor Ice Service
• Arctic Glacier acquires Tropic Ice Partners
• Arctic Glacier acquires Winkler Lucas Ice and Fuel d.b.a. Mid-Michigan Ice Co
• Arctic Glacier acquires Wonderland Ice
• Artic Glacier seeks advice on acquisition of Thomas Ice Cube
• Baylor Health Care seeks counseling on executive compensation and pension matters
• Belo retains counsel in connection with DOL and IRS compliance initiatives
• Bon Secours seeks advice on IRS qualification issues, church plan issues 403(b) plans, 457 plans and sophisticated nondiscrimination testing issues and controlled group issues
• Evercore Capital acquires various Davis Petroleum entities in bankruptcy buyout , (2009)
• J.C. Penney sells Eckerd drugstore operations to CVS Corp. and The Jean Coutu Group , (2009)
• Madison Oil is acquired by Toreador Resources for $16.4 million
• Michaels Stores seeks benefits counseling
• Parallel acquires Acid Services
• Parallel acquires Mealey’s Furniture and Mattress , (2009)
• Parallel acquires Weisman Discount Home Centers
• Parallel Investment Partners sells JetStar , (2009)
• SKM acquires Rio Pumping Services and Jet-Star
• SKM invests in Teavana
• Total Petrochemicals seeks counsel on employee benefits issues
• TSG Consumer Partners sells PureOlogy Research to L'Oréal
• Vista Staffing acquired by On Assignment

West Practice Categories

Affirmative Action -- Employee, Americans with Disabilities Act -- Employee, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) -- Employee, Employee Rights -- Employee, Employment Contracts -- Employee, Employment Discrimination -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- Employee, Federal Employer,'s Liability Act (FELA) -- Employee, Municipal Employment -- Employee, Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA) -- Employee, Pensions, Benefits & Compensations -- Employee, Pensions, Benefits & Compensations -- Employer, Sexual Harassment -- Employee, Wage & Hour Laws -- Employee, Whistleblower -- Employee, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act -- Employee, Wrongful Termination -- Employee

Bar Admissions

• Texas

Education

• Georgetown University
• U of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Published Works

• An Impending Collision at the Intersection of Code Section 457 and Code Section 409A, 2007
• New Pension Funding and Accounting Rules Barrage Employers: Credit Agreement and SEC Disclosure Impact, 2006

Address

2727 North Harwood Street
Dallas, TX 75201-1515

Phones

1.214.969.4564 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.214.969.5100 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com