As DLA Piper continues its worldwide expansion, the world’s largest law firm is exploring a change to its compensation structure that would make equity partners of all its partners in overseas offices, Legal Week reported on Tuesday.
DLA Piper International, which comprises the firm’s offices in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, currently operates a three-tier partnership split between a band of equity partners and two tiers of fixed-share partners. If the all-equity plan is put into effect, fixed-share partners in those countries will be asked to contibute capital in return for equity status, Legal Week reported. DLA Piper’s U.S. offices made the switch to an all-equity partnership in 2008, when 275 salaried partners invested capital in the firm and began receiving a direct percentage of the profits.
