DLA Piper

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DLA London, 3 Noble Street

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. (Financial figures for 2005 ranked the firm second to Clifford Chance in worldwide turnover with over $1.5 billion in revenue).[1]

DLA Piper is a legal services organisation whose members and affiliates are separate and distinct legal entities.[2] Together, the organization boasts more than 3,200 lawyers in over 24 countries and 63 cities throughout the world.

The firm runs a lobbying arm, formerly known as Global Government Relations.

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).

Lobbying practice

Alongside PR and dedicated lobbying agencies, law firms also provide lobbying advice to their clients. The practice is commonplace in the US. While there are fewer players in the UK, those law firms that do give such advice, have influence. DLA Piper is one with a significant lobbying practice in Britain. Its areas of practice include the following:

Lobbying for PPP and PFI

DLA Piper claims to be specialist in delivering PFI and PPP projects for the private sector. It claims to 'understand... how to secure business for the private sector'.[3]

Local lobbying practice

Winning local planning battles has long been a lucrative area for lobbying and PR companies. DLA Piper claims an enviable track record in delivering planning permission.

A 2010 brochure for its 'Property and Planning Communications' practice says:

'Communicating effectively with decision-makers and the communities they represent has never been more important for those operating in the property and development sectors. From proposing a supermarket extension, to a new town, to a major infrastructure project, landowners and developers have to balance the planning and legal arguments with the need to secure political support. This is in addition to the national and local requirements to engage and consult with a wide range of stakeholders.
GGR - the strategic communications and public affairs practice of DLA Piper - provides targeted and informed communications strategies to support private and public sector clients to deliver their development objectives.
Working closely with clients' in-house and consultant teams, GGR has an industry-leading track record in delivering planning permissions for major regeneration and infrastructure schemes, retail, residential and mixed use projects. This means maximising public and political buy-in, whilst minimising and managing potential opposition.'[4]

DLA Piper Scotland

DLA Piper also offers lobbying services to clients in Scotland. According to a former employee, DLA Piper provides 'strategic communications and government affairs advice to the firm’s clients with interests in Scottish public policy', particularly in the areas of 'infrastructure planning, housing, supermarket retail, health and aspects of energy.'[5]

DLA Piper Scotland has helped clients in the following sectors:

  • health sector, including major pharmaceutical and medical devices companies interested in Scottish health developments.
  • energy sector, including Scottish coal and renewable energy firms.
  • retail development sector, including lobbying for one of the largest retailers, and providing it with 'community engagement' services.[6]

Refusal to join the Association of Professional Political Consultants

Following a committee inquiry chaired by Labour MP Tony Wright, it emerged that DLA Piper was one of three agencies refusing to join the APPC. Tim Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat spokesman on culture and sport in the House of Lords, is founder and chairman of the lobbying arm of the firm, Global Government Relations (GGR). This creates - in the eyes of the APPC - a conflict of interests, as members cannot employ sitting peers or MPs. GGR's then head of media Eben Black, instead of Clement-Jones, was due to appear before the committee.[7]

Lobbying for Turkey

On 10 October 2007, the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs passed Resolution 106, which accuses the Turkish rulers in 1915 of genocide. There was an intensive on behalf of the Turkish government to sway the committee, described by Ali H. Aslan as follows:

Both the Turkish and the US governments strongly opposed the resolution and were joined by DLA Piper, the Livingstone Group, public relations company Fleishman-Hillard and other companies that officially conducted lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey as well as by big corporations that have sizable commercial deals with Turkey such as Boeing and BP.[8]

Lobbying for the UAE

In a story published on 7 January 2016, DLA Piper was among the PR firms listed on by the Saudi Arabian government's Foreign Agent Registration Act filings as 'active foreign principals for Saudi Arabia', working to shape public opinion in the Kingdom's favour following the contrversial execution of Shiite cleric Sheik Nimr Baqr al-Nimr.

The firm receives a fee of $50,000 a month for services including '[contacting] Members of Congress, congressional staff and Executive Branch officials in connection with strengthening the ability of the United States and Saudi Arabia to advance mutual national security interests.'[9]

People[10]

Global

Co-Chairmen

  • Tony Angel, United Kingdom. Former managing partner at Linklaters, 1998–2007, executive managing director and head of EMEA at Standard & Poor's, where he was a member of the global operating committee and helped guide the credit rating agency through the intense scrutiny that accompanied the global credit crisis.
  • Lee Miller, United States. Former chairman of Rudnick & Wolfe before its merge with Piper & Marbury in 1999.[11]

Joint Co-CEOs

Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific

Co-Managing Directors, Groups and Sectors

Managing Director, Europe and Africa

Managing Director, Europe and Middle East

Chief Operating Officer

General Counsel, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific=

Americas

Co-Chairmen

Co-Managing Partners

Chairmen Emeritus

  • Francis Burch Jr., United States. Former chairman of Piper & Marbury before its merge with Rudnick & Wolfe in 1999.[11]
  • George Mitchell, United States. Chaired the peace negotiations which led to the 1998 Belfast Peace Agreement and former US special envoy for Middle East Peace from January 2009 to May 2011 and US senator 1980-1989.

Chief Operating Officer

General Counsel

UK Staff

Simon Airey | Ioannie Alexopoulos | Kirstie Allerton | Jeremy Andrews | Tony Angel | Fabrice Armand | Robert Arnison | Vinita Arora | Charles Arrand | Colin Ashford | Stephen Atkinson | Christopher Baird | Anu Balasubramanian | Max Ballad | Nick Bamford | George Barboutis | Toby Barker | Aileen Barry | Martin Bartlam | Howard Bassford | Mark Beardwood | Claire Bell | Sarah Bell | Claire Bennett | Petra Billing | Robert Bishop | Stephen Blacksell | Rosemary Bointon | Richard Bonnar | Simon Boon | Stephen Bottley | Neil Bowker | Iain Bowler | David Bradley | Earle Brady | Ian Brierley | Lee Brierley | Peter Brook | Ilyas Bulut | Kit Burden | Mark Burgess | Catherine Burton | Philip Butler | Duncan Calow | Tamara Calvert | John Campion | James Carter | Kate Cervantes-Knox | Alan Chalmers | Philip Chong | Linos Choo | Matthew Christmas | David Church | Michael Cieslarczyk | Andrew Clarke | Mary Clarke | Tim Clement Jones | Alastair Clough | Roger Collier | Veronique Collin | Mike Conradi | Charles Cook | Adam Cooke | Simon Cookson | Jane Cotton | Sarah Coucher | Liam Cowell | Michael Cowley | Kate Creer | Richard Crossfield | Sian Croxon | Alan Cunningham | Jamie Curle | John Curran | Alastair J Da Costa | Andrew Darwin | Andrew Davies | Andrew S. Davies | Tim Dawson | Gordon Day | Sarah Day | Ugo de Vivo | John Delamere | Alex Dell | Stephen Dick | Thomas S. Dick | Paul Dineen | Ian Doig | Huw Dolphin | Ben Donovan | Jean-Pierr Douglas-Henry | Nigel Drew | Alistair Drummond | Gurpreet Durha | Helen Dyer | Andrew Dyson | Jonathan Eatough | Steven Egecombe | Paul Edwards | Sara Ellington | Hugh Evans | Alison Ewart | Jonathan Exten-Wright | Susan Fanning | David Farmer | Silvia Farre | Michael Fiddy | Tim Field | Dr Sharon Fitzgerald | Nick Fitzpatrick | Paul Fleming | Laura Ford | Louise Forrest | Christian Francis | Mark Franklin | John Gallon | Maher Ghanma | Duncan Gillespie | George Godar | John Gollaglee | Mark Goodwin | Charles Gordon | Luca Gori | Benedict Gorner | Roger Gough | David Gray | Paul Gray | Clare Gregory | Ray Gribben | Alexander Griffith | Edward Griffiths | Martin Griffiths | Smridhi Gulati | Andreas Gunst | Helen Hall | Stephen Haller | Chris Hanson | Jeremy Harris | Wendy Harrison | Adam Hartley | Jon Hayes | Noel Haywood | Amy Heading | Jonathan Hearn | Nick Helm | Louise Hendry | Tom Heylen | Nicola Higgins | Dominic Higham | Mark Hilton | Teresa Hitchcock | Kate Hodgkiss | Richard Hopkinson-Woolley | Nigel Howard | Ruth Hoy | Stephen Hoyle | Gawain Hughes | Adam Ibrahim | Sheila Irvine | Amy Jacks | Mark Jackson | Melanie James | Paul Jayson | John Jeffreys | Steven Jenning | Nicholas Jew | Ben Johnson | Alexandra Kamerling | Tony Katz | Martin Keates | Jon Kenworthy | Sion Kenyon | Tom Kerr Williams | James Kerrigan | Stephen Ketteley | Gail Keville | John Kittle | Sir Nigel Knowles | Jakub Kubicki | Tim Lake | Joseph Lam | Guy Lamb | Jim Lavery | Christina Lawrence | Michael S. Lebovitz | Janet Legrand | Simon Levine | Jonathan Lisle | Vivian Liu | Matthew Lonergan | Roger Loo | Tony Lopez | Betty Louie | Natasha Luther-Jones | Mark Lynch | Lillian Mackenzie | Yunus Maka | Fei Mao | Nick Marsh | Tim Marshall | Emma Martin | Vikki Massarano | Valerie Mather | Amber Matthews | Richard May | Corinne McCarthy | Mark McGiddy | Richard McGrane | Lee McGuirk | Gareth McIntegart | Michael McKee | Rob McKie | John McKinlay | Stuart McMillan | Derek Medlam | Ronan Mellon | David Miles | Sam Millar | Ben Miller | Alison Mills | Emma Mills | Patrick Mitchell | Patrick Mitchell | Hazel Moffat | Elia Montorio | Charles Morrison | George Mortimer | David Morton | Duncan Mosley | Ashley Mott | Robert Mower | Laura Nadel | Martin Navias | Suzannah Newboult | Jayne Newton | Richard Norman | Mark O'Conor | James O'Donnell | Richard OBank | Hannah Ogilvie | Elizabeth Osako | Joanne Owen | Ailish Oxenforth | Allison Page | Simon Palmer | Dimitri Papaefstratiou | Prakash Paran | Nicholas Patrick | Kate Payne | Tony Payne | Lorinda Peasland | Martin Penn | Jim Pinsent | Duncan Pithouse | Stewart Plant | Stuart Ponting | Tony Potts | Jonathan Procter | Catherine Radcliffe | Simon Rae | David Raff | Bonella Ramsay | Jonathan Richards | Michael Ridley | Anna Robson | Laurence Rogers | Julie Romer | Philip Rooney | Robert Russell | Paul Rutherford | Robert Salter | Jessica Sanders | Alexander Sarac | Matthew Saunders | Charles Severs | Glenn Sharpe | Edward Shaw | Catherine Simister | Callum Sinclair | Richard Skipper | Neil Slater | Stephen Sly | Andrew Smith | Paul Smith | Rob Smith | Robert Smith | Richard Smyth | Patrick Somers | Hilary Stewart-Jones | Ciaran Stone | Paul Stone | Matthew Swynnerton | Andrew Symons | Alex Tamlyn | Ben Taylor | Leon Taylor | Richard Taylor | Sandy Telfer | Elinor Thomas | David Thompson | Fiona Thompson | Roy Tozer | Chris Tulley | Tresna Tunbridge | Catherine Usher | Jeff Vernon | Kate Vernon | Mark Vipan | Drew Wallace | Sandra Wallace | Darren Walsh | Pattie Walsh | Kathryn Ward | Jonathan Watkins | Wendy Watson | Nicholas West | Bruce Westbrook | Richard Wilkinson | John Wiks | Colin Wilson | Josh Wong | Alasdair Wood | Ian Wood | Brian Woolcock | Richard Woolich | David Wright | Neville Wright | Simon CJ Wright | Stephen Wright | Tim Wright | David W. Young[12]

Revolving Door

Former Staff

Affiliations

MP hospitality

On 24 November 2010, DLA held a breakfast meeting with the then Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Sassoon.[19]

On 4 December 2013 , DLA had dinner with Lord Deighton, the Commercial Secretary. [20]

Affiliations

See also

Resources, References and Contact

London address:
Edinburgh address: Collins House, Rutland Square, Edinburgh, EH1 2AA

References

  1. Lorraine Cushnie, DLA Piper challenges the global giants as revenues soar to £850m, The Lawyer, 13 February 2006, accessed 9 June 2011
  2. [1], DLA Piper website
  3. PPP and PFI, DLA Piper website, accessed September 2015
  4. DLA Piper, Global Government Relations, ‘Property and planning communications’ brochure, October 2010
  5. Jason Wassell, Linkedin profile, accessed September 2015
  6. Jason Wassell, Linkedin profile, accessed September 2015
  7. Staff writers, "Lobbying inquiry zooms in on APPC non-members", PR Week UK, 21.02.08, accessed 10.09.10
  8. Ali H. Aslan, How did last-minute hopes turn into disappointment?, Zaman, 10 October 2007.
  9. Eli Clifton, Washington's Multi-million dollar Saudi PR Machine, Rightweb.IRC, accessed 19 January 2016
  10. Firm Leadership DLA Piper, undated, accessed 9 October 2014
  11. 11.0 11.1 Sean Somerville Piper, Rudnick join ranks of largest U.S. law firms Baltimore Sun, 2 November 1999, accessed 9 October 2014
  12. UK People DLA Piper, undated, accessed 10 October 2014
  13. Lord Tim Clement-Jones DLA Piper, undated, 9 October 2014
  14. Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations Advisory Committee Lists Accessed 21st January 2008
  15. 15.0 15.1 Rt Hon Lord Warner, Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP and MR Stephen Haddrill Parliament Publications, 8 May 2008, 9 October 2014
  16. Melanie Newman House of Bankers: 16% of Lords are paid by City firms The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 10 July 2012, accessed 9 October 2014
  17. Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean profile Parliament UK, undated, 9 October 2014
  18. Nuclear Industry Association, Our Members, undated, accessed 5 September 2012
  19. HM Treasury 1 October - 31 December 2010 Gov.uk, accessed 13 October 2014
  20. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/357545/ministerial_transparency_Oct-Dec_2013_amended_5_Sept_2014.pdf HM Treasury Ministers Quarterly Information: 1 October – 31 December 2013] Gov.uk, accessed12 October 2014