Tom Moore looks to the future of DLA as he meets the firm’s latest leader
Juan Picón’s face now adorns the WhatsApp group ‘Executive Rules’, used by DLA Piper’s leadership to share videos of karaoke nights, office yoga sessions and champagne moments, while running the world’s second largest law firm by revenue.
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DLA Piper has ended its formal relationship with Venezuelan firm InterJuris, reducing its presence in Latin America to Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
Caracas-based DLA InterJuris will once again become independent, and known going forward as InterJuris Abogados, just five years after the pair came together.
DLA Piper sealed its alliance in Venezuela in 2011 as part of an aggressive push into the region designed to link up with the then recent launch of a Miami office, but the firm has confirmed InterJuris is no longer a member of the DLA Piper Group, which is an alliance of legal practices operating under the brand without being members of the firm.
InterJuris was founded by energy lawyer Juan José Delgado and corporate lawyer Maria Cecilia Rachadell, who also acted as foreign legal consultants at the firm’s Miami office as part of the alliance.
A DLA Piper spokesperson said: ‘We have restructured our relationship with DLA InterJuris in Venezuela, which will now do business as InterJuris Abogados, S.C. Going forward, InterJuris will no longer function as a DLA Piper relationship firm.’
The spokesperson added: ‘However, we will continue to engage the services of the InterJuris team in Caracas, led by Juan Jose Delgado Alvarez, Maria Cecilia Rachadell and Gabriela Rachadell de Delgado, on behalf of clients doing business in Venezuela. In addition, they will continue to work as foreign legal consultants for DLA Piper.’
It is the second affiliate DLA Piper has axed in a year, with the firm ending its formal alliance with South Africa’s Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr last year before launching two offices of its own in the country.
DLA Piper entered Colombia at the start of last year through a combination with Martinez Neira Abogados, which renamed that practice DLA Piper Martinez Neira, and combined with Mexican firm Gallastegui y Lozano in June later that year.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
Fresh from sealing a landmark deal with Lawyers On Demand (LOD) to provide freelance lawyering services to its clients, DLA Piper will roll out the service in Australia following LOD’s merger with Asia-Pacific rival AdventBalance.
DLA has extended its collaboration with LOD to Australia as part of a global arrangement between the two firms to work together across the world. The international expansion follows LOD’s merger with AdventBalance, which has offices across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Hong Kong and Singapore, to create one of the largest world’s largest New Law businesses.
DLA agreed a deal with LOD late last year to direct alumni towards the freelance lawyer service, who will then service the global law firm when it requires extra resource. At least 50 DLA lawyers are expected to join by the end of 2016 while LOD’s current pool of 400 lawyers are also available to DLA.
Simon Levine, DLA’s global co-chief executive (pictured) said: ‘We have had a truly fantastic response in the UK from both our clients who are using our flexible lawyers and our alumni who have signed up to be flexible lawyers. Our aim is to offer our clients the same high-quality, innovative service wherever they do business and we therefore entered into the collaboration with LOD with the intention of expanding internationally. It makes absolute sense to launch our flexible lawyering solution in Australia next and we are very excited to bring this exciting new model to the market.’
DLA’s global roll out of its LOD deal marks the firm overseas arrangement for the UK-based freelance lawyer service.
Jonathan Brenner, co-founder of LOD, added: ‘Our collaboration with DLA Piper has exceeded all our expectations and we are delighted, though not surprised, to be ‘going global’ so soon after the UK launch. Today’s news comes hot on the heels of LOD’s ground-breaking merger with AdventBalance, and clearly demonstrates the enormous potential of the deal. We’ve taken New Law global and, in doing so, have created the perfect storm. Watch this space for more to come.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
EE LEGAL HEAD REVEALS PLANS POST-TELCO MERGER
Following BT’s high-profile £12.5bn takeover of UK mobile business EE, it has emerged the telco plans to consolidate external legal panels, while EE’s general counsel (GC) James Blendis has been appointed to BT’s legal leadership team. Blendis will now sit on BT’s legal leadership board, which comprises senior legal management, including group GC Dan Fitz.
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About 18 months after sexist email exchanges between DLA Piper partner Nick West and a client were leaked, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has confirmed that there is a case to answer, meaning West now faces a hearing in the SDT.
Back in 2014, an email exchange between West and Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, which contained sexually explicit and sexist comments about a female colleague of Scudamore’s – who the pair had nicknamed ‘Edna’ – was made public by Scudamore’s former personal assistant Rani Abraham.
Following a conduct review DLA stood by sports broadcasting specialist West, who apologised. While DLA said it had no comment on the SDT referral, in 2014 the firm said it ‘accepted West’s assurances that these emails are not reflective of his beliefs and values and that there will be no recurrence of this behaviour’.
It added in a statement: ‘We have concluded that there was a failure to meet the high professional standards in which we take pride as a firm, whilst recognising that these were emails exchanged between friends and accessed without permission.’
The SRA, which decided in August 2015 it would pursue the case against West, must now prove to the criminal standard of proof that West was involved in inappropriate emails with his client. If the SDT finds the allegation to be proven, it can strike West from the roll or issue a fine.
The first case management hearing on the matter will be heard April 6.
The SRA, the agency which usually brings cases against solicitors to the SDT, is currently reviewing its internal legal function, in a bid to bring more work in-house, in a move which means its panel firms will also be re-assessed.
victoria.young@legalease.co.uk
Corporate heavyweight Juan Picon has been appointed DLA Piper‘s next senior partner, replacing longtime leader Sir Nigel Knowles when he retires at the end of April.
Madrid-based Picon, who for the last two years has served as joint managing director for Europe and the Middle East, will become senior partner and global co-chairman of DLA Piper on 1 May 2016. The deadline to enter the race to replace Knowles closed yesterday, with Picon the only candidate.
Picon joined the firm as Spain managing partner in 2006 from legacy firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and went on to become one of the firm’s biggest billers, strengthening DLA’s relationship with Vodafone after being instructed on its €7.2bn acquisition of Spanish broadband company Ono. Picon is also currently co-chair of the firm’s Latin American practice and has worked alongside the firm’s US arm to lead growth in the region.
Picon said: ‘I firmly believe this is a time of great opportunity for the firm. Our vision is to be the leading global business law firm and our strategy to achieve that is the right one. As a result, our brand and profile grows daily.
Simon Levine, global co-chief executive, added: ‘Juan and I have had a close working relationship ever since we were appointed to the executive in a joint role in 2012. Not only does Juan’s appointment bring a Continental European perspective into the firm’s leadership team, he also has a very close working relationship with the Americas, a Latin American practice, and I also have the pleasure of calling him my friend.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
Following a flat 2014, revenue at DLA Piper rose by 2.5% last year as the firm broke the $2.5bn barrier for the first time.
With revenue at mid-tier rival Baker & McKenzie dropping to $2.43bn in its last financial year, which ends in June, DLA joins Latham & Watkins as one of just two law firms generating over $2.5bn.
Strong growth in DLA’s real estate, investigations and M&A practices helped to boost the firm’s top line, but a 14% drop in the number of equity partners at the firm last year saw net profit plunge 9% to $605.5m as the firm undertakes stricter performance management. The firm saw 62 equity partners leave DLA in 2015.
This fall in equity partners did, however, help the firm to push up its profit per partner to $1.57m. This equates to a 38% rise in profits per partner over the past five years as the firm looks to attract more top-tier work. Revenue per lawyer was flat at $675,000.
DLA’s international arm, which contains all offices outside of the Americas, recently approved an overhaul of its pay structure to introduce a points-based remuneration system better linking partner pay to its profit pot. The changes also introduced a lockstep system for new partners, lasting for three years, while they grow their practices.
Last year the firm sealed mergers in Canada through its tie-up with Davis and in Finland with the addition of Peltonen LMR. The firm also launched its first on the ground presence in Africa last year, with offices in Morocco and South Africa.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
Sir Nigel Knowles (pictured) will retire from DLA Piper at the end of June after nearly four decades at the firm, the vast majority of which he spent spearheading a rapid globalisation of the firm into one of the world’s largest.
Knowles’ retirement will see him vacate his current titles as co-chairman and senior partner of the $2.5bn-a-year law firm at the end of April. He will retire two months later. The decision kick-starts a leadership race that hopes to find a new senior partner for DLA Piper’s non-US businesses by the end of March.
One of just a handful of commercial lawyers to receive a knighthood in recent memory, Knowles executed a string of mergers that culminated in one of Big Law’s few transatlantic tie-ups in 2005 when the UK’s DLA combined with US law firms Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich. He served as chief executive of international arm of DLA Piper following the merger before stepping down at the end of 2014. Simon Levine succeeded him as co-chief executive.
Knowles said: ‘The creation of DLA Piper is my proudest achievement, and I will always remain close to the firm, but now is the right time for me to stand down safe in the knowledge that I am leaving the firm in very capable hands.’
Levine added: ‘The contribution that Nigel has made to the firm is immeasurable. His vision and leadership over nearly 20 years has played a huge part in the creation of DLA Piper, taking the firm from 6 UK offices to the global firm it is today. We are all extremely proud of everything Nigel has achieved and are very pleased that he will continue to have a very close relationship with the firm.’
For more Legal Business analysis of DLA Piper’s succession see: Simon says – DLA Piper gears up for a life after Nigel.
Firm increases bonus pool and launches three-year lockstep for new partners
DLA Piper International partners have approved an overhaul of its pay structure, introducing a points-based remuneration system and a larger bonus pot as it targets greater profitability, while bringing in a separate lockstep for new partners while they grow their practices.
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Having announced it will open a new office in Houston, 13 partners have joined US firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, including McDermott Will & Emery‘s global head of energy Blake Winburne, and DLA Piper‘s co-chair of global and US patent litigation Claudia Frost.
Winburne will co-lead the firm’s 130-lawyer global energy and infrastructure group, and brings with him two other partners – Matt Archer and Brad Gathright – who both focus on project development and finance.
Alongside Frost, disputes partner and patent litigator Jeffrey Johnson also leaves DLA Piper.
The remainder of the team includes four partners joining from Andrews Kurth; three partners from McGuireWoods; and one lateral partner hire from Susman Godfrey, alongside two partners joining as counsel from Haynes and Boone.
The new office will focus on three main areas: energy and infrastructure, litigation and IP, and public finance, with an aim to serve clients across Latin America in the energy, technology and finance sectors.
Orrick first announced the opening of its Houston office in mid-January and expects to announce seven more partners, at least five of whom are expected to join later this month. One of these will join as the firm’s Houston office head and co-head of the Latin America Group.
The firm’s chairman Mitch Zuklie said: ‘Houston is a vitally important market for our clients and a key hub for the energy and infrastructure and Latin American markets. We are committed to continuing to grow these teams and adding capabilities in areas such as private equity and energy technology that address our clients’ needs and are a strategic fit with our strengths.’
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
A list of the joining partners:
Energy and infrastructure: Latin America and corporate/M&A
Blake Winburne from McDermott Will & Emery
Dahl Thompson from Andrews Kurth
Matt Archer from McDermott Will & Emery
Brad Gathright from McDermott Will & Emery
George Humphrey from Andrews Kurth
Giji John from Andrews Kurth
Darrell Thomas from Andrews Kurth
Litigation: commercial, IP and appellate
Claudia Wilson Frost from DLA Piper
Jeffrey Johnson from DLA Piper
Katherine Treistman from Susman Godfrey
Public finance
Todd Brewer from McGuireWoods
Hoang Vu from McGuireWoods
Marcus Deitz from McGuireWoods
Kathryn Garner from Haynes and Boone (joining as counsel)
J. Kent Friedman from Haynes and Boone (joining as counsel)
