DLA Piper

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DLA Piper

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world and it is the only firm with more than 3,500 lawyers in North America and Europe. DLA Piper is a legal services organization whose members and affiliates are separate and distinct legal entities.http://www.dlapiper.com/global/termsconditions/structure/

Together, the organization boasts more than 3,700 lawyers in 28 countries and 67 offices throughout the world. DLA Piper was formed as a result of the 2005 merger of San Diego-based Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, UK-based DLA LLP (previously Dibb Lupton Alsop 1996-2000), and Piper Rudnick LLP (itself a 1999 merger of Baltimore-based Piper & Marbury and Chicago-based Rudnick & Wolfe). In 2007, the firm had more than $2.1 billion in revenue, making it one of the highest grossing law firms in the world.

Management
Clients
Notable Mandates
Awards
Political Contributions
Offices
External links

Management

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 and for which he won various awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the UN (UNESCO) Peace Prize. Senator Mitchell is currently well known for the 2006-2007 assignment investigating steroid use in Major League Baseball, which culminated in the so-called "Mitchell Report".

Clients

DLA Piper's clients range from multinational, Global 1,000 and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies. DLA Piper represents more than half of the top 250 Fortune 500 clients and nearly half of the FTSE 350 or their subsidiaries.

Notable Mandates

DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach Rechtsanwaelte GmbH Vienna branch advised Deutsche Telekom in its acquisition of a 16% share in Hrvatske Telecom, the Croatian telecoms group, from the Croatian government, for ?500 million in 2001.
Through its Amsterdam branch, acted for CMG in its $1.25 billion merger with fellow software and computer services company Logica in 2002.
Counseled the Royal Bank of Scotland as debt provider in the £277.8 million purchase of GondolaExpress by restaurant chain Pizza Express in 2003.
Represented the UK Ministry of Defence in a £680 million project finance contract to redevelop an existing garrison to include several new barracks and an urban village in 2004.
DLA Piper Gvinadze & Partners acted for Frontera Resources Corporation in its $81 million listing on the Alternative Investment Market in 2005.
Counseled Heckmann Corp, through its Hong Kong and Phoenix branches, in its $625 million of China Water and Drinks Inc in 2008.
DLA Piper Madrid advised a consortium of banks including Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid, Banco Sabadell SA, Banco Popular Espanol SA, ICO, Banco Español de Crédito SA and Caixa Geral de Depósitos in a ?1.2 billion for forestry company Grupo Empresarial Ence SA in 2008.

Awards

Current awards held by DLA Piper include:

- Dispute Resolution Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2008
- TMT/IP Team of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2007
- Named a "Legal Market Trailblazer" by BTI Consulting Group
- Ranked #8 on the list of "Top Ten Family-Friendly Firms" compiled by Yale Law Women in 2007
- Recognized as a "2007 Best Law Firm for Women" by Working Mother Magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers
- #1 on the 2007 American Lawyer Pro Bono ranking for total lawyer participation
- Mid Market Law Firm of the Year at the Acquisitions Monthly Awards 2007
- Recognized as "The Best Foreign Law Firm in Ukraine" in 2008 by Yuridicheskaya Praktika law journal

Political Contributions

DLA Piper, like many firms, makes contributions to various politicians and candidates. For the 2008 Presidential primaries, DLA Piper's largest contribution is $10,000 to Hillary Clinton; by contrast, there were no contributions to her main competitors, Barack Obama and John Edwards. On the Republican side, Rudolph Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson received contributions, while Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee did not. http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.asp?strID=C00151340&Cycle=2008

In addition, DLA Piper attorneys John Merrigan & Matthew Bernstein are major money-raisers for Hillary Clinton. DLA Piper employees have bundled over $470,000 to Mrs. Clinton's campaign, making DLA Piper Clinton's leading contributor as of February 28, 2008. http://consortiumnews.com/2008/020808.html http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00000019&cycle=2008 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00000019&cycle=2008