DLA Piper
DLA Piper (known until 4 September 2006 as DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary) is the third largest law firm in the world by number of attorneys after Clifford Chance and Baker & McKenzie. DLA Piper is a legal services organization whose members and affiliates are separate and distinct legal entities.[1]
Together, the organization boasts more than 3,200 lawyers in over 24 countries and 63 cities throughout the world. DLA Piper was formed as a result of the 2005 merger of San Diego-based Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, London-based DLA LLP (previously Dibb Lupton Alsop), and Piper Rudnick LLP (itself a 1999 merger of Baltimore-based Piper & Marbury and Chicago-based Rudnick & Wolfe). Recent financial figures from The Lawyer rank the firm second to Clifford Chance in worldwide turnover with over $1.5 billion in revenue for 2005.[2]
People
The firm is managed globally by three joint chief executive officers: Nigel Knowles, Frank Burch, and Lee Miller. The three were previously the managing partners of legacy firms (DLA, Piper & Marbury, and Rudnick & Wolfe, respectively). The Chairman of the firm's Global Board is former U.S. Democratic Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the peace negotiations which led to the 1998 Belfast Peace Agreement.
Affiliations
- International Financial Services London - DLA Piper UK LLP is a member
- Atlantic Legal Foundation
- Francis B. Burch, Jr. Co-Chairman, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP, Baltimore, :*Frank H. Menaker Partner DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Senior VP & General Counsel
- Arthur F. Fergenson Partner, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP Baltimore, MD
- Heartland Institute - Paul Fisher - Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe
- William Cohen The Cohen Group has a strategic alliance with Piper Rudnick
- European Institute (USA) - DLA, Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP
- Bioindustry Association, member