LONDON, CHICAGO, and BALTIMORE, Dec. 9 --PRNewswire/AsiaNet/InfoQuest
Merged firm to Have 2,700 Lawyers in 49 Offices in 18 Countries
Law firms DLA and Piper Rudnick LLP today announce that they will merge.
When combined, DLA, which has extensive coverage across Europe and Asia and is
ranked seventh in the UK, and Piper Rudnick, one of the leading national law
firms in the US, will have wide global reach across a broad range of practice
areas. This international merger of equals is evenly balanced on both sides
with 1,350 plus lawyers in the US and more than 1,350 lawyers in Europe and
Asia.
The announcement comes just two months after Piper Rudnick announced that it would merge with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP. With the latest merger
the combined organisation will be known as DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and will
be the only legal provider in the world with more than 1,000 lawyers on both
sides of the Atlantic. Both mergers become effective on 1 January 2005.
Piper Rudnick's co-chairs, Francis B Burch, Jr and Lee I Miller, and DLA's Managing Partner, Nigel Knowles, jointly announced the merger following a
simultaneous partner vote by both sides on Saturday, 4 December. Burch, Miller
and Knowles, who will serve as joint CEOs, will lead the combined firm.
With more than 2,700 lawyers located in 18 countries and projected 2005
revenues of $1.5 billion, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary will become the third
largest legal services provider in the world, based on the number of lawyers,
and the second largest based on revenue, according to the latest AmLaw Global
100 rankings. Through its 49 offices located in the US, Europe and Asia, it
will focus on providing clients with a broad range of legal services to meet
their day-to-day needs anywhere in the world. Responding to client needs
"While the size of this combination is certain to capture attention, this merger represents the culmination of the strategic plan that was put into
motion in 1999 when Piper & Marbury merged with Rudnick & Wolfe," said Burch.
"More important than size is delivering a platform that will accommodate the
expanding global needs of our clients." Miller continued, "This merger is
designed to extend the global reach of our key practice areas so that we can
serve the needs of clients wherever they choose to do business. As clients
consolidate the number of law firms they retain as they expand into new
countries and markets, we will be able to offer a consistent, multi-national
service across a range of core practices and geographies from a single point of
contact."
"DLA's current vision has focused on building a full service presence
across Europe and Asia. Europe and Asia are still key to the long-term plans of
the business but the time is now right for us to take this opportunity to
develop our global reach. We will be able to differentiate ourselves by being
one of the few global firms that is not predominantly capital markets-driven,"
explained Knowles. "Rather, our goal is to build long-term relationships with
clients seeking a broad range of legal services locally, nationally or
internationally."
The leaders of both firms stressed that their respective client bases have become increasingly active across national borders as a result of ongoing
global opportunities and market changes, and this merger would enable them both
to meet these demands.
"Our clients are distributing products and services across international
borders, opening and closing plants and offices, making new business
investments, involved in M&As, interacting with international regulatory bodies
and settling disputes across jurisdictions," said Burch. "This merger will
ensure we have the legal knowledge and geographic presence to address those
needs."
Integrating our expertise
The merged organisation will continue to provide an extensive range of
legal services across all existing practice areas and will be organised along
the lines of seven global practice groups as follows:
-- Corporate and Finance -- On the corporate and finance
side both firms operate significant transaction-based
practices and focus on middle-and upper-mid market
clients. The combined corporate practice would have
ranked third in the world in 2004 for the 111 M&A
transactions it completed in the first half of the year.
It is also on the panels of a number of major banks and
financial institutions and has a substantial bankruptcy
and restructuring practice.
-- Litigation -- The group brings together more than 800 top
litigators in the US, Europe and Asia and offers lawyers
experienced in patent, class action, securities,
antitrust, banking and finance, technology,
telecommunications and insurance disputes.
-- Real Estate -- With over 200 real estate lawyers in both
the US and the UK this top-ranked group will become one
of the world's pre-eminent international real estate
practices, serving the needs of developers, corporations,
retailers and investors.
-- Legislative and Regulatory -- The group brings together
two industry leading regulatory practice groups, which
provide legal advice throughout the entire regulatory
cycle, from lobbying in respect of impending legislation
to developing regulatory compliance procedures and
regulatory crisis management. The merger also creates the
world's leading public affairs practice within a law firm
with DLA's highly regarded Government Affairs and Media
Relations practice, Upstream and Piper Rudnick's
Washington-based Federal and Government affairs practice.
-- Human Resources -- This practice represents a combination
of DLA's market-leading Human Resources Group with the wide
range of services offered by the employment law group in the
US and will include more than 200 lawyers located in key
jurisdictions around the world.
-- Commercial -- The group will be a market leader in European
public private partnerships (PPPs) and the provision of
infrastructure and project finance services to sponsors
and funders internationally. The group has lawyers who
are particularly experienced in energy, sports, water,
defence, healthcare and transportation, and is recognised
in particular for its top-ranked franchise practice.
-- Technology, Media and Communications (TMC) -- This global
practice represents a combination of market-leading teams
in information technology/outsourcing, telecommunications,
IP, media, e-business, sport, data protection and privacy.
With over 420 lawyers globally it will be the dominant
global TMC/TMT practice.
For further information:
Glenn Schloss,
Hill & Knowlton,
Tel: +852 2894 6328 or
+852 9673 1886
Nick Seddon,
Regional Managing Partner,
DLA Asia LLP,
Tel: +852 2103 0618
Ariane Guimbeau,
Business Development Manager,
DLA Asia,
Tel: +852 2103 0610 or
+852 9248 0066
Notes to editors
About DLA
DLA is an international legal service organisation and provides a full
range of legal and business services through its offices in Europe and Asia.
The firm is committed to building close relationships with its clients in order
to serve their long term needs through its award winning Client Relationship
Management programme. In addition to its 29 offices in 16 countries, DLA is
also the founding member of DLA Group, an exclusive alliance of multi-service
law firms with a shared vision to provide co-ordinated legal services to
clients locally and internationally. Other Group members include: DLA Nordic
(Scandinavia), Lukowicz, Merski & Partners (Poland) and Ang & Partners
(Singapore). From 1 January 2005, the Group will be known as DLA Piper Rudnick
Gray Cary Group.
About Piper Rudnick
Piper Rudnick is a business law firm of 1,000 lawyers in offices throughout
the US and a European office in Paris, whose core practice areas are litigation, real estate, business and technology, and government affairs. In October 2004, the firm announced that it would merge with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, a leading California-based corporate and technology firm. The merger is to take effect on 1 January 2005 and will result in a US presence of about 1,350 lawyers in 19 offices.
SOURCE: DLA LLP
CONTACT: Glenn Schloss of Hill & Knowlton,
+852-2894-6328, or
+852-9673-1886;
Nick Seddon,
Regional Managing Partner,
+852-2103-0618, or
Ariane Guimbeau,
Business Development Manager,
+852-2103-0610, or
+852-9248-0066,
both of DLA Asia
--Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--