2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER DLA Piper

With approximately 4,300 lawyers in 90-plus offices (including relationship firms) around the globe, DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms—both by headcount and by revenue—in the world.

From Big to Ginormous

DLA Piper is a law firm empire. Its massive growth is the result of the tripartite merger among the U.K. firm DLA, Chicago/Baltimore-based Piper Rudnick, and California’s Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich in 2005. A whirlwind of acquisitions followed. Firm growth was spurred by healthy real estate, litigation, corporate, and private equity practices and the absorption of entire departments from rival firms. In September 2006, the firm trimmed its name, rendering DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary to DLA Piper, a change reflecting its new emphasis on global brand-building. The firm’s 2011 merger with DLA Phillips Fox in Australia pushed the firm to over 4,000-attorneys, expanding the already super-sized firm to megafirm status. After merging with Davis LLP, the firm introduced its platform into Canada; expanded into Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Puerto Rico; and then increased its entertainment, real estate, and other region-specific sector practices through a merger with Liner LLP in Los Angeles.

Give Them Privacy

DLA Piper advises clients across more than a dozen industries and ten major practice areas (with a host of sub-practices). With newly introduced artificial intelligence, proptech, fintech, and blockchain and digital assets practices and a top-notch practice in data protection, privacy, and security, DLA Piper has its finger on the pulse of the modern business world. The firm places among the top 5 firms in Vault’s Privacy & Data Security rankings for good reason. Its lawyers handle everything from compliance, data mapping and data security, and consumer protection regulation to global data transfer management and lobbying.

With 500 lawyers, DLA Piper’s Real Estate department is another major segment of the firm, helping clients with real estate litigation and a host of other issues, including financing, development, asset management, real estate investment trusts, and construction. DLA Piper also produces a publication called the Real Estate Gazette, which compiles articles on legislation and case law affecting the real estate world.

The firm’s Employment practice is also highly regarded. The attorneys in this department reach across the globe to offer both local and cross-border counsel. These attorneys advise on discrimination, employee benefits, global employment law compliance, global governance and compliance, labor relations, litigation, and workforce restructuring, among other areas.

Add a Stamp

Some firms offer their attorneys secondment opportunities, but not every firm has a global mobility team like that at DLA Piper. This team provides support to lawyers who embark on secondments, and many of the opportunities are international. Through the firm’s Global Mobility program, lawyers can work in another location for six months—something the firm thinks contributes to its lawyers’ global mindset.

• DLA Piper achieved a defense victory for client Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and BMW of North America, LLC in the US District Court of Maryland in a patent infringement lawsuit initiated by US patent assertion entity Paice LLC and the Abell Foundation, Inc. (May 2023)
• DLA Piper advised T-Mobile US, Inc. in its acquisition of spectrum licenses in the 600 MHz band from Comcast in exchange for a total cash consideration of between $1.2 billion and $3.3 billion. (Sept 2023)
• DLA Piper achieved a significant defense victory for client Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company in a lawsuit filed by Marina Pacific Hotel and Suites, marking the conclusion of the first COVID-19 business interruption trial in California. (May 2023)
• DLA Piper advised Qatar Sports Investments in connection with its landmark strategic partnership and investment deal with Arctos Sports Partners in which Arctos will acquire a minority equity stake in Paris Saint-Germain. (Dec 2023)
• DLA Piper advised the Portland Thorns FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, one of the world’s most supported women’s soccer clubs, in its sale to RAJ Sports, led by the Bhathal family. (Jan 2024)

• Innovative Lawyers in Technology/ Innovative Practitioner, 2023 – Financial Times
• Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certified Plus, 2023—Diversity Lab 
• #1 most active law firm for combined global deal volume in mergers & acquisitions, venture capital and private equity, 2024 – PitchBook
• Leading Edge Law Firms, 2024 – BTI Consulting Group 
• Best Use of AI, 2024 – Law.com/ Legaltech News