DLA Piper’s international and American practices share a name, a brand, and – the firm says – a vision. But they still don’t share profits. Is the firm an innovator or just poorly integrated? Richard Lloyd reports

DLA Piper has always been a firm in a hurry. In the mid-1980s Nigel Knowles, now co-chief executive of the firm, was busy earning his management stripes running Dibb Lupton Broomhead’s office in Doncaster.