Michael E. Bleier

Michael is a member of the Financial Industry, Financial Services Regulatory, and Hedge Fund Groups.  Michael joined Reed Smith after serving for nearly 14 years as General Counsel for Mellon Financial Corporation and Mellon Bank, NA, and as manager of legal affairs.  Prior to joining Mellon in 1982, he was in the Legal Division of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC for 11 years; when he left the Federal Reserve he was Assistant General Counsel, responsible for the bank holding company area. At Mellon, Michael was actively involved in its expansion, both in the banking and nonbanking areas and in its dealings with the federal and state bank regulatory authorities, as well as with the Congress and the state legislatures. He played a key role in Mellon's growth and transformation into primarily a fee-based business. He was intimately involved in Mellon's Pennsylvania statewide expansion, the creation and implementation of Mellon's good bank/bad bank transaction, the transformative and groundbreaking Boston Company and Dreyfus acquisitions, and in dealing with the federal regulators and Congress on the Basel II risk-based capital rules.

At Reed Smith, Michael has counseled General Counsel clients, filed expansion applications with the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC, and also also advised financial institution clients on an array of regulatory matters.