“We believe that the profession is going to change structurally over the next three to five years and we want to be at the front end, not the back of that process. That takes strong leadership.” So says Francis B Burch, Jr, the US-based co-chairman of DLA Piper, referring to the vote that has just ratified the firm’s headline-grabbing appointment of former Linklaters head Tony Angel.
I don’t often use this column to recount an interview, but there is something very distinctive about how the Baltimore-based veteran discusses the ambitions of one of the most, well, distinctive forces in global law. Several minutes into the conversation and it is easy to see how DLA hooked up with Piper Rudnick – Burch’s energy and direct style is not unlike a US version of one Nigel Knowles.
