In 1999, London’s Clifford Chance merged with New York’s Rogers & Wells. It was not seamless. In fact, the exodus of major U.S. partners during the next few years turned the firm into a byword for the risks of trans-Atlantic unions. What Clifford Chance’s initial struggles did not do is stop the next decade’s wave of global mergers between U.S. and mainly British firms.
DLA Piper is the 2005 product of a massive three-way merger between Baltimore-based Piper Rudnick, San Diego-based Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich and London-based DLA. Combine its U.S. and international arms, and the firm ranks second-largest in the world by attorney headcount — with some 3,500 lawyers in 29 countries.
