Attorney Mark Jane: Butzel Long

Overview

Mark W. Jane is a Shareholder based in Butzel’s Ann Arbor office. Mr. Jane practices in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation, with a focus on complex issues arising from the sponsorship of group health and welfare plans.

Mark has worked with employers of all shapes and sizes, providing incisive counsel regarding the tax and employment implications on the design and ongoing maintenance of a wide array of employee benefit plans, primarily comprehensive health and welfare plans, cafeteria plans, 401(k) plans, and profit-sharing plans. He has experience representing clients with respect to their benefit plans before various governmental agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Mr. Jane has represented employers and administrators regarding their benefit plans across a broad spectrum of industries, including automotive, retail, manufacturing, health care, municipal, tribal, and non-profit. He assists such clients with a multitude of general employee benefits matters, including:

Drafting and reviewing required plan documents, notices, and summaries;
Providing consultation regarding fiduciary duties inherent in managing ERISA-governed plans or plans subject to state fiduciary or third-party administration law;
Walking welfare plan administrators through various HIPAA portability, COBRA, and ACA dilemmas in order to find workable solutions, for example:

HIPAA portability: preparing special enrollment notices and instructing plan administrators on rules for proper notice distribution;
COBRA: consulting with small businesses over group health plan continuation coverage responsibilities and potential exemptions; and
ACA: advising large employers on proper methods of counting full-time employees to assess employer shared responsibility compliance;

Correcting plan errors for tax and fiduciary compliance; and
Analyzing and negotiating service provider contracts.

Mr. Jane has held numerous leadership roles in several bar associations. Mark previously served as President of the Washtenaw County Bar Association in 2019-2020. His other roles with the WCBA have included serving as a two-term Co-Chair of the Judiciary Committee, as a Co-Chair of the Community Liaison Committee, and as a Co-Chair of the New Lawyers Section. Mark also served as the Chair of the State Bar of Michigan Young Lawyers Section in 2015-2016, and currently serves as a representative of Washtenaw County (22nd Circuit) on the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly (where he also chairs the Nominating and Awards Committee).

Mark attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with high distinction. He also attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he received a Juris Doctor, cum laude. Mr. Jane has been named an “Associate to Watch” by Chambers USA from 2016-2023 and as one of the DBusiness Top Lawyers in Michigan for 2011, 2019-2022.