DLA Piper

DLA Piper is a law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it was the third largest law firm in the United States by revenue. DLA Piper was formed in January 2005 by a merger between three law firms: San Diego-based Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, Baltimore-based Piper Rudnick LLP and United Kingdom-based DLA LLP. It is composed of two partnerships, the United Kingdom-based DLA Piper International LLP and the United States-based DLA Piper LLP (US). The two partnerships share a single global board and are structured as a Swiss Verein. History Origins DLA Piper's origins can be traced back to four law firms: Dibb Lupton Broomhead, Alsop Stevens, Piper & Marbury, and Rudnick & Wolfe. Dibb Lupton Broomhead was a UK law firm that was formed in 1988 after the merger of Dibb Lupton and Broomhead & Neals. In 1996, the firm merged with the Liverpool-based law firm, Alsop Wilkinson, and became Dibb Lupton Alsop (DLA). Meanwhile, in the United States, Piper & Marbury was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, and merged with Chicago-based Rudnick & Wolfe in 1999 to form Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe.