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DLA Piper

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DLA Piper
No. of attorneysApproximately 4,200[1]
Major practice areasArbitration, Banking, Competition and Trade, Corporate Crime, Corporate Finance, Employment, Energy, Government Affairs, Hospitality and Leisure, Insurance, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mergers and Acquisitions, Pensions, Private Equity, Real Estate, Restructuring, Securities, Tax, Technology
Key people
  • Roger Meltzer
  • (global co-chairman)
  • Andrew Darwin
  • global co-chairman
  • Simon Levine
  • (joint CEO)
  • Cameron Jay Rains
  • (joint CEO)
RevenueUS$2.48 billion (2014)[2]
Profit per equity partnerUS$1.490 million (2014)[2]
Date foundedFirst parent firm founded 1764; current organization dates to 2005 (by merger)[3]
Company typeSwiss Verein (2 LLPs)
Websitedlapiper.com

DLA Piper is a multinational law firm with offices in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.[1] In 2014, it had total revenues of US$2.48 billion and average profit per equity partner of US$1.490 million,[2] and was the third largest law firm in the United States as measured by revenue.[4]

DLA Piper was formed, in January 2005, by a merger between three law firms: San Diego-based Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, Baltimore-based Piper Rudnick LLP and United Kingdom-based DLA LLP. It is composed of two partnerships, the United Kingdom-based DLA Piper International LLP and the United States-based DLA Piper LLP (US). The two partnerships share a single global board and are structured as a Swiss Verein.[5]

History

Origins

DLA Piper's origins can be traced back to Thomas Townend Dibb (1807–1875) and Sir Charles Lupton OBE (1855–1935).[6][7][8]

In the reception foyer of DLA Piper (Leeds office), a Victorian bust of Thomas Townend Dibb is displayed as the founder of the firm. He was born in Leeds, in 1807, the son of a physician. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and qualified in 1829. He then became a partner of Atkinson Bolland & Atkinson, a well established practice at that time and with record of its existence from 1764. DLA can trace its Yorkshire roots back to 1764, when the firm of Barnard & Bolland was established in Leeds. The newly qualified Thomas Dibb became a partner at Barnard & Bolland and added his name in 1829. The three-letter abbreviation used by the firm today - DLA - conceals a complex history of consolidation and name changes. It picked up Lupton, from Nelson Eddison & Lupton in 1920. The firm merged with Broomhead of Sheffield in 1988. The name of the firm as Dibb Lupton & Co. survived intact until the merger with Broomheads of Sheffield in 1988. Following the link with Alsop Wilkinson in 1996, the firm was then known as Dibb Lupton Alsop until around the year 2000, when the name was shortened to DLA. It is now known internationally as DLA Piper, the fourth largest law firm (by revenue) in the world.[9]

Sir Charles Lupton had been educated at Rugby school and then Trinity College, Cambridge. He qualified as a solicitor in 1881, practising mainly at Dibb & Co., later Dibb Lupton in Leeds and also Nelson Eddison & Lupton. [10] Lupton was the Lord Mayor of Leeds[11][12] in 1915–16. His portrait was painted by royal portraitist Sir Oswald Birley and his wife, Katharine Lupton (née Ashton) - a former Leeds Lady Mayoress - [13] was the sister of Thomas Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde. Lupton is the great great granduncle of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.[14][15]

Lupton's son was Captain Charles Roger Lupton, the World War I flying ace.

Dibb had no children. The Yorkshire Obituary of June 1875 defines Dibb as "one of the most influential men in the borough, and for long period the firm, of which he in the course of time rose to be the chief, has had an influential and extensive practice."[16]

Piper Rudnick and American predecessor firms

Piper Rudnick was the result of a 1999 merger between the Baltimore-based Piper & Marbury and Chicago-based Rudnick & Wolfe.[17] At the time, the merger was the largest law firm merger in history.[18] The combined firm was known as Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe LLP until April 2002, when the firm shortened its name to Piper Rudnick LLP.[18]

Piper Rudnick acquired the Washington, D.C. based lobbying firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand in September 2002.[19]

2005 to 2010

In July 2004, UK-based law firm DLA LLP and Baltimore-based law firm Piper Rudnick announced their intention to merge on 1 January 2005.[20][21] DLA had been the result of a mid-1990s merger between three UK firms, Dibb Lupton Broomhead, Alsop Stevens, and Wilkinson Kimbers.[17]

Piper Rudnick agreed to merge with San Diego-based law firm Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP in October 2004, forming a firm with around 1,300 lawyers and 20 offices across the United States.[17]

In December 2004, DLA LLP, Gray Cary and Piper Rudnick, the latter two of which had yet to complete their merger, announced that the partners of each firm had approved a three-way merger.[22][23] The merger became effective on 1 January 2005 and the new firm was named DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.[3] The merger was structured in the form of two limited liability partnerships, DLA Piper International LLP, and DLA Piper US LLP (since renamed to DLA Piper LLP (US)), which share a single management board but are not financially integrated.[5]

In July 2005, DLA Piper acquired EY Law's 87 lawyer operation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, including offices in Moscow and St Petersburg.[24] In December 2005 DLA Piper opened an office in Beijing, having recruited a team of lawyers from the Beijing office of Coudert Brothers.[25]

In January 2006, DLA Piper opened its first office in the Middle East, in Dubai.[26] The firm has since opened offices in Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Doha, Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat, Riyadh and Jeddah. On 1 September 2006, the firm shortened its name to DLA Piper.[27] DLA Piper merged with its Norway-based alliance firm DLA Nordic in the same month,[28] and formed an alliance with the Australia-based law firm Phillips Fox in November 2006, with Phillips Fox rebranding as DLA Phillips Fox at that time.[29][30][31]

DLA Piper opened offices in Munich, Germany and Warsaw, Poland in 2007.[32][33]

2010 to present

In February 2010, DLA Piper formed an alliance with the Turkish law firm Yüksel Karkın Küçük[34] until 2014.[35] In March 2010 DLA Piper formed an alliance with the Brazil-based law firm Campos Mello Advogados.[36]

In January 2011, DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox announced their intention to merge.[37][38] The merger was approved by partners of both firms in February and was completed on 1 May, when DLA Phillips Fox become part of DLA Piper International LLP.[39] Later in the same month DLA Phillips Fox's former New Zealand-based offices separated to form an independent firm.[40] DLA Piper formed an alliance with Venezuela-based law firm InterJuris Abogados in February 2011, which subsequently renamed as DLA Interjuris.[41] In 2016, the Venezuelan firm exited the alliance with DLA Piper and reverted to operating under the name of InterJuris Abogados.[42]

In February 2012, DLA Piper opened an office in Mexico City, having recruited a team from Thompson & Knight's office in the city.[41]

In January 2013, DLA Piper announced the closure of its Glasgow office[43] and the sale of its Manchester- and Sheffield-based defendant insurance practices to Hill Dickinson.[44]

Also in January 2013, DLA Piper opened an office in Seoul in South Korea.[45][46]

On 2 March 2015, DLA Phillips Fox New Zealand became DLA Piper New Zealand.

On 17 April 2015, Canadian law firm Davis LLP became DLA Piper (Canada) LLP.[47]

On 13 October 2015, DLA Piper announced the opening of an office in Casablanca in Morocco.[48]

On 1 November 2016, DLA Piper (Canada) LLP combined with Dimock Stratton LLP and will operate under the DLA Piper name.[49]

An office opened in Johannesburg in January 2016.

The Danish firm LETT and the Portuguese firm ABBC[50] joined DLA Piper in March 2017 which made DLA Piper the largest law firm in the Nordic region, with offices in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm (DLA Piper has no offices in Iceland).

In late June 2017, The New York Times reported the firm had been hit in the ransomware cyberattack which infected their network. No information was compromised or lost.[51] As of June 2017, the law firm was struggling to uncover from "vicious computer attacks" from the week before.[52]

In October 2017, Equifax selected DLA Piper to work on its security breach case in Washington, D.C..[53]

In August 2020, DLA Piper received the 2020 Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA).[54]

Offices

DLA Piper is a polycentric firm with over 80 offices in more than 40 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Australasia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East:[55]

Political contributions

DLA Piper was the twelfth-largest donor to President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.[56] According to the Center for Responsive Politics, DLA Piper was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating $2.19 million, 73% to Democrats.[57] By comparison, during that same period Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld donated $2.56 million, 66% to Democrats,[57] while oil conglomerate ExxonMobil donated $2.66 million, 88% to Republicans.[58] Since 1990, DLA Piper has contributed $16.97 million to federal campaigns, and spent over $1 million on lobbying since 2002.[59]

As of 2014 it was the fifth largest donor to potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Controversy

In 2010, DLA Piper represented Paul Ceglia in his claim that he hired Mark Zuckerberg to create a website that became Facebook and that, under the agreement, Ceglia was entitled to ownership of 84 percent of Facebook, then worth multiple billions of dollars.[60] Zuckerberg and Facebook responded that, while Ceglia had hired Zuckerberg to work on an unrelated site, Ceglia had fraudulently altered that contract to make it appear to cover Facebook. A DLA Piper attorney told the Wall Street Journal that, although he had not seen the original document, he had "absolutely 100% confidence that [Mr. Ceglia's] agreement is authentic."[61] Ceglia's document was later, in fact, found to be fraudulent and in 2014, Facebook and Zuckerberg sued DLA Piper and others, claiming Ceglia’s lawyers "knew or should have known that the [initial] lawsuit was a fraud."[62] The suit was later dismissed.[63][64]

Notable attorneys, advisors and staff

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ a b "Facts and Figures". DLA Piper. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "The Am Law 100, the Early Numbers: DLA Posts Record Profits Despite Flat Revenue". The AmLaw Daily. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Our History". DLA Piper. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  4. ^ Jones, Ashby (27 April 2015). "Latham & Watkins Tops the AmLaw 100 For the First Time". WSJ Law Blog. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Firm Leadership". DLA Piper. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  6. ^ "CWGC – Casualty Details: Lupton, Charles Roger". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  7. ^ Ravetz, Alison. "Model Estate (Routledge Revivals): Planned Housing at Quarry Hill, Leeds". Routledge, 13 Sep. 2013 - Architecture. Retrieved 17 October 2017. ...the Lupton family (more particularly, probably, Sir Charles Lupton, Lord Mayor in 1915)...
  8. ^ "UK City Firms : DLA Piper (London)". rollonfriday.com. 2013. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  9. ^ Binham, Caroline. "DLA Piper takes top spot in law firm rankings". The Financial Times - 5 July 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2015. DLA Piper has become the biggest law firm in the world by revenue, knocking its rival Baker & McKenzie off the top spot, according to new rankings
  10. ^ Reporters (15 November 2012). "DLA Piper to begin job loss talks with lawyers". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  11. ^ Leeds Public Library. "History of Quarry Hill, Leeds". UK Gov. (Leeds). Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  12. ^ "BBC – Leeds – In Pictures – Quarry Hill's history". bbc.co.uk. 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  13. ^ "OBITUARY KATHARINE LUPTON - former Lady Mayoress of Leeds". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 10 May 1940. OBITUARY KATHARINE LUPTON Katharine Lupton,...a former Lady Mayoress of Leeds, died at her home, Carr Head, Roundhay, yesterday...
  14. ^ Reed, Michael (5 April 2013). "Duchess of Cambridge not posh? Her ancestor was lord mayor of Leeds". The Guardian. London: GMG. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  15. ^ Lupton, C.A. , The Lupton Family in Leeds, Wm. Harrison and Son 1965
  16. ^ Obituary, The Times. "Obituary - Thomas Townend Dibb - Died 1875, 15 November 1875 Page 15". The Times - 15 November 1875 - Page 15. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  17. ^ a b c Dash, Eric (19 October 2004). "Two Law Firms to Join Forces". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  18. ^ a b Rulison, Larry (5 April 2002). "Piper dropping the 'Marbury' name". Baltimore Business Journal. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  19. ^ "Company Overview of Verner Lipfert Bernhard McPherson & Hand". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  20. ^ "Nigel Knowles tours UK to drum up support for 'DLA Piper Rudnick'". The Lawyer. 26 July 2004. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  21. ^ "The bigger the better? The merger between DLA and Piper Rudnick creates a new global giant". The Economist. 9 December 2004. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  22. ^ Irwin, Neil (6 December 2004). "Piper Rudnick to Merge With Big British Firm". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  23. ^ Sachdev, Ameet (6 December 2004). "Piper Rudnick, DLA to combine". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  24. ^ "DLA Piper secures E&Y CIS takeover approval". The Lawyer. 27 June 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  25. ^ "DLA Piper opens in Beijing with Coudert crew". The Lawyer. 9 December 2005. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  26. ^ "DLA restructuring to dramatically scale back Gulf presence". The Lawyer. 7 December 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  27. ^ "Shorter is sweeter". The Lawyer. 10 July 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  28. ^ "DLA Piper loses Bergen office to local firm". The Lawyer. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  29. ^ "DLA Piper finalises Aussie alliance". The Lawyer. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  30. ^ "Phillips Fox becomes DLA Phillips Fox". The Lawyer. 15 June 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  31. ^ "Phillips Fox Vietnam opts for AAR tie-up". The Lawyer. 6 November 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  32. ^ "DLA Piper looks to Bucharest for full CEE coverage". The Lawyer. 17 September 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  33. ^ "DLA Piper sets 150-lawyer target for Germany offices". The Lawyer. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  34. ^ "DLA to launch in Turkey via alliance with local firm". The Lawyer. 23 February 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  35. ^ Johnson, Chris (18 November 2014). "DLA Piper's Turkey Office Demerges From Firm". American Lawyer. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  36. ^ "DLA Piper Joins Law Firms Beckoned by Brazil's Growth". Bloomberg. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  37. ^ "Merger of DLA Phillips Fox with DLA Piper to create law giant". The Australian. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  38. ^ "DLA Piper seals 'unique' Aussie merger". The Lawyer. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  39. ^ "DLA Piper partners give backing to firm's Aussie merger". The Lawyer. 28 February 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  40. ^ "DLA Phillips Fox in divorce from New Zealand arm". The Lawyer. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  41. ^ a b "DLA Piper launches in Mexico City with Thompson & Knight team". The Lawyer. 14 February 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  42. ^ Moore, Tom (31 March 2016). "DLA Piper loses Venezuela presence, ending local relationship with InterJuris after five years". Legal Business. Legalease Ltd. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  43. ^ "DLA Piper to shut Glasgow and offload defendant insurance teams as redundancy talks continue". The Lawyer. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  44. ^ "Hill Dickinson acquires DLA's Sheffield and Manchester insurance hubs". The Lawyer. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  45. ^ "News - DLA Piper Global Law Firm". DLA Piper. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  46. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  47. ^ "DLA Piper and Davis finalize combination in Canada - News - DLA Piper Global Law Firm". DLA Piper. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  48. ^ "DLA Piper launches on the ground in Africa with two new offices". DLA Piper. 13 October 2015.
  49. ^ "DLA Piper to merge with Dimock Stratton and other legal moves and grooves for Sept. 26". Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  50. ^ Baker, Tom (7 March 2017). "'Natural evolution': DLA Piper swoops into Lisbon with new tie-up". Legal Business. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  51. ^ Scott, Mark; Perlroth, Nicole (27 June 2017). "New Cyberattack Spreads in Europe, Russia and U.S." The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  52. ^ "Law Firm DLA Piper Reels Under Cyber Attack, Fate of Files Unclear", Fortune, Jeff John Roberts, 29 June 2017
  53. ^ "Equifax Picks DLA Piper", Kevin McCauley, O'Dwyer's, 23 October 2017
  54. ^ "2020 Beacon of Justice Honorees | National Legal Aid & Defender Association". www.nlada.org. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  55. ^ http://www.dlapiper.com/files/Publication/298c657a-beef-4bb1-9726-f98745ea1c86/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/12d97ceb-3e2d-4044-b538-16a084843bbd/Key_Facts_Document_.pdf[permanent dead link]
  56. ^ "Top Contributors". opensecrets.org.
  57. ^ a b "Lawyers & Lobbyists: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics.
  58. ^ "Energy/Natural Resources: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  59. ^ "Organizations: DLA Piper". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  60. ^ "Abrupt Turn as Facebook Battles Suit". The New York Times. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  61. ^ "Fight Over Facebook Origins Escalates". The Wall Street Journal. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  62. ^ "Facebook Sues Lawyers of Discredited "Co-Founder" Paul Ceglia". re/code. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  63. ^ Flaherty, Scott (29 December 2015). "New York Court Nixes Facebook Suit Against DLA Piper, Milberg". American Lawyer. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  64. ^ "Business roundup: DuPont to cut 1,700 jobs in Delaware". The Washington Post. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  65. ^ "DLA Piper: The Firm Behind the Mitchell Report". The Wall Street Journal. 4 December 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  66. ^ Schneider, Howard (23 November 2009). "Palestinians looking to American-style housing developments, financing". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  67. ^ Strahler, Steven (19 May 2012). "At DLA Piper, a global portfolio". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  68. ^ "The Churn: Lateral Moves and Promotions in The Am Law 200". The AmLaw Daily. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  69. ^ Hays, Kali (3 March 2016). "DLA Madrid Partner Gets Global Role Left By Long-Time Chair". Law360. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  70. ^ Kozlowski, Kim (10 September 2015). "Blanchard gives MSU $1M for public service program". The Detroit News. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  71. ^ Benoit, Angeline (24 May 2013). "DLA Piper Hires Former Spain PM Jose Maria Aznar as Adviser". Bloomberg.
  72. ^ Moore, Tom (3 June 2015). "DLA builds LatAm presence with Colombia pact as firm hopes to leverage Spanish relationships". Legal Business. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  73. ^ Smith, Jennifer (22 January 2014). "Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Heads to DLA Piper". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  74. ^ Gershman, Jacob (14 April 2014). "Ex-CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton to Join DLA Piper as Policy Adviser". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  75. ^ "Former CFTC Commissioner Chilton Leaves DLA Piper". Profit & Loss. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  76. ^ Wilson, Megan (8 January 2015). "Ex-senator Chambliss heads to DLA Piper". The Hill. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  77. ^ "Tom Daschle". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  78. ^ Vanden Dolder, Tess (28 October 2014). "K Street: Tom Daschle Leaves DLA Piper to Start His Own Policy Advisory Group". DC Inno. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  79. ^ "Lib Dem first lady Miriam Gonzalez Durantez lands job at US firm". The Independent. London. 28 October 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  80. ^ Snyder, Jim. "Ex-Sen. Martínez to join DLA Piper as partner". TheHill.com. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  81. ^ Orlando Sentinel (2010). Mel Martinez to be Fla. chairman for JPMorgan Chase. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  82. ^ Florida Trend (2013). [1]. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  83. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission
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