It’s official: DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox Get Hitched
Sydney-based Phillips Fox, which formed an exclusive partnership with DLA Piper back in 2006, will fully merge with Chicago- based DLA as part of DLA’s effort to grow its presence in the Group of 20 countries. The move will add roughly 600 lawyers, leaving DLA with more than 4,000 attorneys and making it the biggest law firm in the world.
DLA’s APAC managing director Alastair Da Costa and DLA Fox’s Tony Holland explained the reasoning behind the merger to Businessweek:
“‘The Asia Pacific region is expected to continue to be dominant,’ in global takeovers this year, Alastair Da Costa, DLA Piper’s Asia Pacific managing director, said in an interview. The merger is subject to partnership votes and is targeted to take effect May 1.
Mergers and acquisitions in Australia more than doubled to $108.5 billion last year including Arrow Energy Ltd.’s takeover by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co. and an $8.4 billion offer from Singapore Exchange Ltd. for Australia’s ASX Ltd. Australian and international law firms are tying up to compete for that business and to serve the Asia-Pacific region.
DLA Piper advised on $3.5 billion worth of takeovers in Australia last year, almost a 12-fold increase from $305 million in 2009, according to Bloomberg data.
‘Corporate Australia is looking much more internationally,’ Tony Holland, DLA Phillips Fox’s chief executive officer, said in a phone interview. A strengthened Australian dollar, which has risen 12 percent against the U.S. dollar in the past year, has made foreign acquisitions for Australian companies more attractive, he said.
DLA Piper’s merger takes it past Chicago-based Baker & McKenzie LLP, which has operated in Australia since 1964, as the world’s largest by number of lawyers.
…
The DLA Phillips Fox integration is with DLA Piper’s international unit. DLA Piper runs its U.S. and international units separately, although it brands itself under one name, DLA Piper. Integration allows partners in Australia to share in the international profits, and will allow DLA Piper to better compete against other firms for talent, Da Costa said.
Australian-trained lawyers, fluent in languages other than English used in Asia, will also help DLA Piper as it looks to expand into South Korea later this year and possibly Indonesia, Da Costa said.”
And just to be clear about how big this will be, and in no way to overstate things, Grant Fuzi, managing partner at Allen & Overy predicted “There will be ‘violent change to the size and shape of the big firms.”
Don’t get left out if there’s going to be a sea change in the legal world. Come find new direction for your legal career at Law Alliance.
