David A. Malson is a partner in the Grand Rapids, Michigan office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where he is a member of the firm's Corporate Department. Mr. Malson has 24 years of experience managing corporate matters for publicly traded and privately owned companies, and handling succession planning and estate planning matters for business owners and high net worth individuals.
Mr. Malson has worked with publicly traded companies ranging in size from $500 million to $2 billion in sales. His experience includes development of pricing policies, antitrust compliance, dealer and distribution network issues, and other general corporate planning. He has also assisted privately owned companies, from startups to those with sales in excess of $250 million. His work includes corporate planning matters, real estate work, financing of projects and acquisitions, admission and withdrawal of shareholders and management of patent and trademark work, labor, employment, and employee benefits projects.
Mr. Malson also focuses his practice on succession and estate planning for privately owned companies and high net worth clients. His experience in this area includes the development of succession plans to transition ownership of businesses on a variety of bases, including sales, gifts and other combinations. He also represents physicians and medical practices as corporate counsel, including negotiations with hospitals, formation of practice entities, admission of new physician partners and retirement of physician partners, real estate matters, and purchases/sales of physician practices and related real estate.
Mr. Malson received his J.D. with honors in 1986 from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he served as a member of the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review from 1985-1986. He attended Valparaiso University School of Law from 1983-84, and earned his B.A. from Indiana University in 1983.
A frequent lecturer, Mr. Malson has lectured on the topics of estate planning, planned gifts, business succession planning, business structure formation and business planning. He has also been a guest speaker for Western Michigan University on corporate and business planning for the university's MBA program. Mr. Malson is a member of the Grand Rapids Bar Association; the Association for Corporate Growth; the Western Michigan Estate Planning Council; and the State Bar of Michigan's Corporate, Trusts & Estates, Taxation and Healthcare Sections.
Mr. Malson is actively involved in the Grand Rapids Catholic Secondary Schools and Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School, where he has served as a legal advisor for the two institutions. In addition, he is a board member for the Grand Rapids Diocese Foundation for Catholic Secondary Education, and also for Kids Against Hunger, Grand Rapids.
He is admitted to practice in the state of Michigan and before the U.S. District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Michigan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, and the U.S. Tax Court.