Overview
Kevin Blair is a skilled commercial litigator with significant experience representing clients in state and federal courts (trial and appellate), arbitrations, mediations, and administrative proceedings. Kevin also has a sub-specialty in administrative law, providing compliance advice and representing clients in myriad regulated industries, including liquor licensing, medical and adult-use cannabis, insurance brokers, ERISA claims administrators, doctors, and veterinarians. With his broad range of litigation experience, including contract disputes, business torts, injunction proceedings, class action defense, election law, and high-stakes complex commercial litigation and appeals, Kevin has:
- Led a trial team to secure a directed verdict in favor of our client, as well as recovering 90% of counter-claimed damages
- Successfully negotiated hundreds of settlements avoiding the cost of litigation for all parties in both ERISA and non-ERISA employee benefits matters
- Drafted numerous appellate briefs in federal and state courts
- Obtained immediate and permanent equitable/injunctive relief in an emergency high-stakes, “bet-the-company” dispute
- Assisted clients responding to inquiries/investigations by federal and state agencies
- Assisted in successfully defending candidates against ballot-access challenges; advised clients regarding initiative/referendum challenges and election-law/campaign-finance compliance issues
- Represented diverse clientele, including beer and wine importers, distributors, casinos, bars, restaurants, hotels, and theaters in matters pertaining to state regulation of liquor licensing, such as buying, transferring, or selling liquor licenses within Michigan
- Provided strategic solutions for clients with needs in the legislative, regulatory, compliance, and administrative arenas
Services
Practice Areas
Industries
Experience
Prior Experience
- Squire Sanders (US) LLP, Associate, Washington, D.C., 2006-2009 and 2010-2012
Clerkships
- Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Washington, D.C., 2009-2010
Credentials
Education
- cum laude
- Administrative Law Review, Note and Comment Editor
- Politics & Government and Pre-Law
- magna cum laude
Admissions
- Michigan
- District of Columbia
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
Recognition
Awards
- Michigan Super Lawyers, Recognized as a Rising Star, 2015-2020
- The Best Lawyers in America
- Recognized in practice areas of:
- Appellate Practice, 2023-2025
- Commercial Litigation, 2023-2025
- Land Use and Zoning Law, 2025
- Recognized in practice areas of:
Professional & Community Involvement
State Bar of Michigan
- Young Lawyers Section
- Litigation Section
- Appellate Practice Section
The Michigan State University College of Law American Inn of Court, 2014-present
East Lansing Educational Foundation
- Board of Directors, 2015-present
Spartan Child Development Center
- Board of Directors, 2013-2019
PRO BONO
Drafted a successful motion in limine for a pro bono client whose death sentence was overturned by the United States Supreme Court