DLA has secured its place as one of the world’s largest law firms after partners overwhelmingly backed its ambitious merger bid with US suitor Piper Rudnick.

The deal, exclusively revealed by Legal Week in February, brings DLA together with Piper and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, the Californian practice that agreed a merger with Piper in October, under the name DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.