Mr. Mason is experienced in counseling companies of various sizes in all areas of executive compensation and employee benefits in the varied contexts in which these issues arise.
His experience includes the design and preparation of executive compensation, retirement, and health and welfare plans. He counsels clients on Internal Revenue Code/ERISA compliance issues, including fiduciary duties, plan asset rules – particularly with respect to private equity and hedge fund investments, prohibited transaction exemptions such as the QPAM, service provider and INHAM exemptions, Code Section 409A compliance, multiemployer plan liability issues, plan mergers and/or terminations, and other plan qualification requirements or plan interpretation issues. Mr. Mason also has experience counseling clients on the design and use of employment agreements and retention arrangements, equity programs as well as various severance, retention and change in control programs, including experience with 280G and golden parachutes. He has unique experience with VEBAs and the compliance and funding issues associated with such entities, including permissive aggregation of welfare benefit funds as well as experience with joint ventures and the multiple employer plan and MEWA issues that arise therein.
Mr. Mason understands and enjoys the resources – legal and business – that a large firm offers him and his clients. He is a co-founder of Catapult Chicago – a Foley-sponsored co-working space that pairs large company resources and know-how with scalable and ambitiously led start-up businesses.
Mr. Mason earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law (J.D., 2002), where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review. He received bachelor’s degrees from St. Olaf College in both biology and economics (cum laude, 1998). Mr. Mason is a member of the American Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in Illinois. He is a member of the board of directors of BUILD, Inc., a not-for-profit organization helping Chicago’s at-risk youth.
Mr. Mason is an active author and speaker. Some of his presentations, publications, and press include:
- “In The Spotlight,” Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, profiled, October 2012
- “Top 12 Chicago Start-Up Lawyers,” AttorneyFee.com, named, July 2012
- “Foley & Lardner takes on a different kind of case by giving office space to Catapult, a center that houses 12 startups,” Chicago Tribune, quoted, June 2012
- “Risky Business: Think Before You Merge – The IRS May Have Questions About Your 401(k) Plan Merger,” Foley’s Employee Benefits Broadcast, April 2012
- "Benefits and Bankruptcy," Law Education Institute, presenter, January 2012
- “Plan and Service Provider Fee Disclosures – An Overview,” Foley’s Employee Benefits Broadcast, February 2011
- "Plan Asset Rules: A Review and Update," Law Education Institute, January 2011
- "The Nuts and Bolts of Welfare Benefit Plans," Chicago Bar Association, presenter, March 2010
- "Benefits and Bankruptcy: On a Collision Course?" Law Education Institute, presenter, January 2010
- "More Clarity on Waiver, Statute of Limitations, and the Importance of Plan Documentation and Administration: Brasley v. Fearless Farris Service Station, Inc.," Employee Relations Law Journal, Autumn 2009
- "Executive Benefits: Review of Disclosure, Appropriateness and Trends in Cost Effectiveness," Chicago Bar Association’s Executive Compensation Institute, presenter, September 2009
- "Welfare Plan Funding: The Latest Techniques," Law Education Institute, presenter, January 2009
- "Permission Aggregation of Welfare Benefit Funds Under IRC 419A," Law Education Institute, presenter, January 2008
- "Liability Driven Investment Strategies – What ERISA Fiduciaries Need to Know," The Investment Lawyer, Vol. 14, No. 9, September 2007
- "Scherring-Plough and the Scope of the Meonch presumption," Employee Relations Law Journal, Vol. 31, No. 4, Spring 2006
- An Internal Revenue Code Section 409A Primer," Minority Corporate Counsel Association CLE Expo, March 2006