July 17, 2006

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By William-Arthur Haynes

SAN FRANCISCO – Following months of frustration trying to get a global compensation practice off the ground at a national law firm, corporate attorney Craig P. Tanner has left Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

Tanner, whose practice focuses on equity compensation, benefits and corporate counseling, joined DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary’s San Francisco office as a partner July 3.

Tanner arrives at the 3,100-lawyer international law firm after 18 months in Manatt’s Palo Alto office. Manatt has 325 attorneys in seven U.S. locations.

Tanner said DLA Piper’s global position after the 2005 merger of Palo Alto-based Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, Baltimore’s Piper Rudnick and British law firm DLA is a better fit for his practice.

With 59 offices in 22 countries, DLA Piper will allow him to offer clients increased bandwidth, something he admitted he misjudged when he joined Manatt from White & Case.

“We believe we’re building the leading global equity compensation practice,” said J. Terence O’Malley, DLA Piper’s U.S. managing partner. “Our clients increasingly require multijurisdictional capabilities, and Craig will definitely help us provide that.”

Tanner will be the fourth partner in DLA Piper’s corporate and securities group in Northern California, with two each in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices. The practice amounts to about 20 attorneys nationally and more than 40 internationally.

Tanner represents companies with designing, offering and implementing global equity-based compensation as well as base salary and cash bonus programs. He said he would retain clients but declined to be specific.

“We liked Craig a lot,” said David Herbst, Palo Alto-based head of Manatt’s Northern California business and transactions practice. “I think both he and we were a little frustrated with the traction he was able to gain.”

Herbst said the firm recruited Tanner as a partner from White & Case along with John J. Heber, who specializes in executive compensation and benefit programs for domestic and international companies to build a “critical mass” in the international compensation arena. Heber came from KPMG International, an audit, tax and advisory firm in more than 140 countries.

Herbst said Heber remains a partner at Manatt and said one of the causes of frustration might have been Tanner’s focus on international compensation. Heber’s practice has a broader scope, Herbst said.

At DLA Piper, Tanner rejoins a former White & Case colleague. In May, partner Jon F. Doyle joined the firm’s corporate and securities group after White & Case announced it was closing its San Francisco office.

Cameron Jay Rains, co-chair of DLA Piper’s corporate and securities group, said in a statement that Tanner brings the type of experience that is in demand from clients with international operations. Rains was out of the country and could not be reached for further comment.