DEBORAH GROBAN OLSON
ATTORNEY AT LAW
1021 Nottingham Road
Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan 48230
Phone (313) 331 7821
Fax (313) 331 2567
Email dgo@esoplaw.com
Since 1981, the law firm of Atty. Deborah Groban Olson has represented employees and labor unions in employee ownership matters, gainsharing and workplace participation, including buyouts of companies, as deal maker, plan counsel, in plan negotiations, and in litigation. As deal maker Olson finds and coordinates funds, management and other necessary professional assistance. She has developed a variety of flexible structures providing our clients with some of the most democratic majority employee owned companies in the country. She also reorganizes existing ESOP and gainsharing plans to be more fair and participative. She has worked on deals ranging in size from under $1 million to over $300 million in asset value. She has also represented owners wishing to sell their companies to their employees. A few examples of our numerous employee ownership projects include:
Representing labor, community, corporations, cooperatives, trusts and employee organizations, Olson has litigated in the ERISA, labor and civil rights fields, in a number of courts across the country, including: Federal District Courts in Arkansas, Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin; the Supreme Court of Arkansas; and the 7th Circuit, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and represents such parties before the IRS.
Deborah Groban Olson, AV rating from Martindale Hubbell. Board of Directors, Member and past Chair of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO); Advisory Board Member, Joint Cities Development Corp.; AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, Sub-Committee on LCC on Line; Member, Leadership Detroit XVII, Detroit Chamber of Commerce; Adjunct Faculty: Wayne State University Law School, University of Michigan; George Meany Center for Labor Studies; University of Wisconsin School for Workers. Michigan Bar Tax, Labor & Corporation Sections Member.JD 1976 University of Wisconsin, Order of the Coif; 1976-81, Attorney for NLRB and union labor law practice; 1981-84, President and Executive Director, Michigan Employee Ownership Center (MEOC); 1985- present General Counsel MEOC.
Bar Admissions: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, US Courts of Appeals 7th Cir., 8th Cir. and US Dist. Cts. WI, AK, MI, TX.
Published: "Union Experiences with Worker Ownership" 1982 Wis. LR 729; "Keeping Jobs and Capital at Home" 1984 Nova Law Journal 583; "Employee Ownership and Economic Development" 1987 NYU Review of Law & Social Change; "Unions and Employee Ownership", ESOP Handbook (Probus, 1989); "Unions and Fair Market Value: An Argument for a Safe Harbor for Negotiated ESOPs" , 1992 Journal of Employee Ownership Law & Finance 135; "ESOPs for People, Not for Wall Street," 1993 Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance 5; "Development, Growth & Experience of ESOPs and Democratic Employee Buyouts" , speech at International Conference on Democratic Employee Ownership, Dublin, Ireland, October, 1993; Giving Employee Owners a Real Voice as Stockholders: Legislative Proposals to the Dunlop Commission", 1994 Journal of Employee Ownership Law & Finance; "The Employee Buyout Feasibility Study" Leveraged ESOPs and Employee Buyouts, National Center for Employee Ownership, 1997; ãThe Feasibility Study for an Employee Led Buyoutä Winter 1998, Journal of Employee Ownership Law & Finance; Summary of ãCapital Ownership Group Industrial Homestead Policy Proposalsä Business Ethics September 2000 and Accountability, December 2000; Chap. 17 ãLabor Unionsä, ESOP Answer Book, Panel Publishers, July 2000.