Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP today announced that Jeffrey P. Crandall, a leading ERISA lawyer, is joining the firm in New York as a partner in its Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits practice. The addition of Mr. Crandall provides Davis Polk with another seasoned expert with deep experience in executive compensation and employee benefits, both in the transactional context and in day-to-day matters involving the design, implementation and disclosure of senior executive compensation and benefit arrangements. Mr. Crandall also has particular expertise in compensation and ERISA matters relating to financial institution, private equity and hedge fund clients. He has extensive experience in structuring carry plans and other forms of manager and investment professional participation in private funds and in the ERISA aspects of the investment and management of pension plan assets under private funds and various other products and arrangements.
Mr. Crandall joins Davis Polk from the New York office of Shearman & Sterling, where he headed the firm’s ERISA practice relating to pension investment in funds and products offered by financial institutions and private investment boutiques. He also has extensive experience in M&A work in both the private equity and strategic acquisition contexts. He has advised an array of financial institutions and other clients on many of their most complex transactions, including: Merrill Lynch & Co. in its acquisition by Bank of America; Citigroup in its acquisition of Washington Mutual Finance Corporation; Active Health Management, Inc. in its merger with Aetna Inc.; Credit Lyonnais in the establishment and operation of private equity and real estate funds in Asia; Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and EnerSys Holdings Inc. in the acquisition of the battery business of Invensys plc.; and Citicorp in its merger with The Travelers Group Inc. Mr. Crandall joined Shearman & Sterling in 1984.
“Jeff’s outstanding reputation in the ERISA space, especially as it relates to private equity and hedge fund work, makes him an ideal addition to our market-leading compensation practice, particularly as funds are faced with ever-increasing regulatory and market-driven complexities,” said Thomas J. Reid, Davis Polk’s managing partner. “We are pleased to welcome him to the firm.”
Mr. Crandall said: “I am excited to be working with an impressive team of lawyers, many of whom I have worked with on a variety of transactions over the years. Davis Polk has long had a blue-chip roster of private equity, hedge fund and other financial institution clients, and I look forward to advising these and other clients in this next phase of my career.”
About Davis Polk’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice. Davis Polk’s executive compensation and employee benefits lawyers advise companies, boards of directors, compensation committees and individual executives on a wide range of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, spinoffs, workouts and bankruptcies, initial public offerings and joint ventures. The firm also advises on the recruitment of senior executives, the design and implementation of equity-based retention and other compensation plans, and compliance with applicable tax, securities, disclosure, corporate governance, fiduciary and other requirements. Davis Polk’s executive compensation and employee benefits lawyers are widely regarded as leading advisers on such issues as senior executive employment and separation agreements, stock options and other equity-based compensation, golden parachute arrangements, deferred compensation and retirement benefits. Members of the practice also advise on ERISA issues applicable to hedge funds and private equity vehicles, as well as ERISA fiduciary and prohibited transaction concerns arising in connection with venture capital investments and corporate transactions.
