Lisa Mills

Practice Areas

Pension, Benefits and Executive Compensation

Career

Lisa J. Mills is an experienced pension and benefits lawyer with Toronto-based firm, Brown Mills Klinck Prezioso LLP. She has 25 years of experience providing advice to both federally and provincially-regulated pension plan sponsors and administrators regarding pension plan design, regulatory compliance and all other aspects of administering defined benefit, defined contribution and hybrid pension plans.

Lisa appears as counsel on pension and benefit matters including in the arbitration context and regularly advises private and public sector employers on the pension and benefits aspects of corporate transactions and insolvencies. Lisa has recently assisted numerous employers on the establishment of new plans and governance frameworks and on the legal aspects of defined benefit plan de-risking. Lisa recently completed the Institute of Corporate Directors Not-for-Profit Governance Essentials Program. Lisa regularly provides advice on employment-related tax arrangements including supplemental pension arrangements and employee life and health trusts. She completed the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants In-Depth Tax Course and has a particular interest and significant experience in resolving the income tax elements of pension and benefit matters.

Professional Memberships

• International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans – Member

• Ontario Bar Association – Member (Pensions and Benefits Law Section)

• Canadian Bar Association – Member (Pensions and Benefits Law Section)

• Queen’s University Faculty of Law – Sessional Instructor, Pensions and the Law (2009-2013)

• Institute of Corporate Directors – Member

• Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, Standing Committee for Defined Benefit Single-Employer Pension Plans – Member (2020-2023)

• PHSS Medical & Complex Care in Community Board of Directors – Board Member (2022-2023)

Publications

Recognized in:

• The Best Lawyers in Canada (2019-2024)

• Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (2016-2023)

• Who’s Who Legal: Labour, Employment & Benefits (2019-2023)

• Chambers Canada (2020-2023)

• Who’s Who Legal: Canada (2019-2022)

Experience

Representative Work:

• Advised on the resolution of a complex multi-party pension and retiree benefits dispute and related pension asset transfers and retiree benefits consolidation.

• Advises the employer sponsor of a $12 billion jointly sponsored pension plan.

• Acted as pension counsel in pension and retiree benefits labour arbitrations and negotiations.

• Advised the employer sponsor of a public sector jointly sponsored pension plan on the creation of a new benefit option.

• Negotiated the transition of a specialized retirement income plan and investment structure to a new decumulation platform.

• Regularly advises on pension buy-in and buy-out annuity contract provisions and other de-risking initiatives including a novel multi-tranche indexed annuity transaction.

• Implemented a number of conversions from defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans for both provincially and federally-regulated employers.

• Advised on the conversion of health and welfare trusts to employee life and health trusts and provides ongoing ELHT advice.

Education

Awards