James Telfer, a partner in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation group, has practiced exclusively in the field of executive compensation and employee benefits since 1986.

Based in DLA Piper’s San Francisco office, Mr. Telfer represents and advises clients in the design, implementation and legal compliance of executive compensation programs, equity-and cash-based incentive compensation plans, tax-qualified retirement plans, non-qualified deferred compensation plans, severance and retention plans, welfare benefit plans and ERISA fiduciary and prohibited transaction issues.

He has substantial experience involving the compensation and benefits issues associated with mergers and acquisitions. In this regard, Mr. Telfer has represented both acquiring and selling companies, as well as individual executives, in connection with all types of asset and stock acquisitions and divestitures. He has also successfully represented clients during Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor audits.

The breadth of Mr. Telfer's practice is evidenced by the diversity of the clients for whom he has performed services, which have ranged from start-ups to large publicly traded companies to multinational joint ventures and tax-exempt entities.

Mr. Telfer comes to DLA Piper from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Before joining that firm, he served as an associate at Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky in Washington, DC and as a senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop in San Francisco.

Mr. Telfer often lectures on employee benefit matters and has served as a guest speaker for Thompson West LegalWorks, the Global Equity Organization, the Western Pension & Benefits Conference, the Silicon Valley Employee Benefits & Compensation Association, and the San Francisco Bar Association. He also has published numerous articles on employee benefit and executive compensation matters.

He has been designated a Northern California Super Lawyer.