Case Study Analysis
DLA Piper: Becoming a Global Firm

Abstract
The global business law firm DLA Piper did not arrive at its position as the recognized leader in its industry without a strategic plan to integrate and align it various regional entities. In fact, it was the vision of integration and alignment by its executive team that led to making DLA Piper the pre-eminent global business law firm today. This case study analysis will describe the setting & environment leading up to, during, and post-merger, then identify the stakeholders involved, and analyze the case context. In addition, Adler & Gundersen (2008) applications, along with options, decision factors and recommendations will be addressed.

Setting and Environment In early 2005, two leading firms, DLA and Piper Rudnick, merged in the largest ever in the legal market. DLA, based in the UK, and Piper Rudnick, based in the USA, came together in order to establish a global platform and a foundation for accelerating growth. The two firms, along with US West Coast firm Cray Cary Ware and Freidenrich, became the merged DLA Piper. Initially, the firm would be led by three joint CEO’s who would have to address the issues that would make it a leading business global law firm. In order to achieve its strategic goal, the leadership of the new firm recognized that it must become aligned across its strategy, people, systems, structure, culture, and management. To achieve its express goal of becoming a global business law firm, several areas would need to be addressed and initiatives would need to be created and executed. For example, creating a clear vision would be paramount, along with identifying core values. These would have to be communicated and reinforced from local initiatives to global events, laying the foundation for acceptance and integration. There would also need to be intentionality placed on establishing the DLA Piper brand by conveying the right meaning and continual reinforcement. Furthermore, there could not be a platform and growth with a client base and these clients would more and more need to be leveraged on a global basis. Finally, actual realignment by practice groups and sectors would be achieved to bring each region together. Once all these important areas and initiatives were addressed and implemented, leadership would continue to address long terms issues and strategy along financial integration, diversity, and achieving global thinking. It goal to go from local to global would be a work in progress but with a strategy to successfully implement its vision.
Identification of Stakeholders The merger brought together more than 2,000 lawyers or about 1,000 each. So, according to size it appeared to be a merger of equals. Notwithstanding the size of the merger, there were many stakeholders involved and very much tied to a successful integration. * Non-partner lawyers and employees. Livelihoods and continued employment were at stake. With any type of merger there would need to be an alignment of functional areas and responsibilities which would likely result in expense reductions including headcount. * Partner lawyers-there were about 1,000 between the two firms. These lawyers logically had more invested career and time wise. What would stability, upward mobility, client sharing, and culture look like going forward? In other words, what did the future look like or would another firm look like a better option, especially if a partnership was in the offing. * Executive Leadership-the merger was not without risk, so long term company valuation was at stake, along with the pressure and responsibility to make sure vision was cast, and an executable plan in place. * Client base-without the client base there isn’t a firm. These clients could be leveraged for growth but also could be let go based on conflicts of interest, or even if they did not fit the profile of having global or at least multi-regional opportunity. * Globally functioning future clients-this stakeholder, while not fully realized, is very important since the strategic plan would be to have at least 50 of these generating up to $25MM per year in revenue.
Case Context
DLA Piper’s fundamental challenge to becoming a global business law firm rests with its ability to be aligned across its strategy, people, systems, structure, culture and management. In addition to setting and environment, as well as the identification of stakeholders, other factors can be elaborated on: * Relevant variables & issues- * Geographical settings- international firm with operations in major world markets. * Company & Area culture-while the corporate cultures of the major components to the merger may have been somewhat similar, there were still some questions on how the different partners would be able to work together. Local customs, work habits, and priorities would have to be addressed and reconciled. * Leadership style-Three joint CEO’s, different financial systems and CFO’s, marketing leadership, these were variables that could either hold back alignment or their synergies could be harnessed to create a more dynamic organization. * Communication-the internal relationships and desire for the company to create the greater good versus the protection of clients and business at the local area would depend on effective communication, not only of the details of running the day to day business, but also at the level of shared vision and values. * Challenges & Opportunities * Going from Local to Global-pushing local lawyers to leverage clients who have an international presence to do more business with the firm and utilize its vast array of services on a global scale. * Creating a shared Vision and Values-intended to convey to clients the idea of what to expect by working with DLA Piper and to articulate to employees what was expected of them in their various roles within the firm. * Creating a Global Brand-creating a recognition in the marketplace that it is one, comprehensive and cohesive firm. The conveyance that there is a strong client commitment and relationships as stressed in the vision and values of the firm. * Institutionalizing behavior-making the visions and values stick and getting the employees to fully understand what was expected of them in their various roles within the firm. * Reaching out to Global Clients-global clients were prized because they offered recurring work for multiple practice areas in multiple locations. By creating a global client program the company would be able leverage its expertise and infrastructure and vastly increase its revenues by becoming a one stop shop with these global companies. * Fundamental Realignment-the firm’s leadership decided to realign the firm in order to assist the merger and help foster relationship with the firm’s clients. The need to structurally align itself would need to occur, so sooner better than later in this case. In the UK and in the US the firm was aligned into practice groups whereas in Continental Europe it was aligned more around geography. There would also be a push to further align around the concept of sectors, which would reflect the industries of the firm’s clients.
Adler & Gundersen Applications DLA Piper’s bid to become the leading global business law firm by merging large organizations based in the US and UK somewhat bold and risky. Adler & Gundersen address several of the factors, challenges, and opportunities that multi-national organizations face when creating a global platform such as the DLA Piper model. The applications that will be addressed include: Global Strategy and Culture, Global Leadership Competencies, and Creating a Positive Future through Global Leadership. In order to succeed in its vision to become the pre-eminent global business law firm, it must develop global strategies that recognizes the importance of integrating international organizational behavior and management of global human resources systems (Adler & Gundersen, 2008, p.9). Increasingly important is the necessity to take into account the ever changing landscape of external economic and technological environments as well as the internal structure and organization of the firm (Adler & Gundersen, 2008, p.9). The fast past that business travels a today make it vitally important for DLA Piper to integrate not only cultures, but every other facet that effects the way the business is operated. The speed of exchanging information and analysis demands a streamlined, efficient, and seamless organization. The DLA Piper leadership team consists of men and women that are highly educated and already successful in leading high performing firms. The merger was designed to build a global platform and a cohesive brand. The challenge would be to bring leadership through the organization. According to Adler & Gundersen, leadership is a skill required by most people in the organization, not just those at the top (Adler & Gundersen, 2008, p. 169). One of the most important global leadership competencies is that of emotional intelligence. Adler & Gundersen state that leaders in companies that have a strong emotional intelligence outperform the yearly earnings goals of their competitors by almost 20% (Adler & Gundersen, 2008, p.170). Adler & Gundersen cite the work of psychologist Daniel Goleman, who set five individual and social competencies to emotional intelligence (Adler & Gundersen, 2008, p. 170). * Self-awareness-the ability to recognize your moods, emotions, drives, and their effects on others. * Self-regulation-the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, along with the propensity to suspend judgment-to think before acting. * Motivation-reflects a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status, and a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. * Empathy-the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. * Social Skill-a proficiency in managing relationship and building networks, along with the ability to find common ground and build rapport.
The DLA Piper leadership team and managers at all levels would do well to stress these five individual and social competencies when developing the organizations overall emotional intelligence. As a global business law firm, DLA Piper has the responsibility to go beyond business as usual, concerned only with local issues and its own corporate welfare. In order to be a global leader and leverage its platform its must have a concern and a vision to be a great corporate citizen. While historically social responsibility may have rested with governments and public entities, Adler & Gundersen (2008) write that “to succeed as a global civilization in the twenty first century, our ways of thinking about options and solutions need to expend to more prominently and explicitly include the private sector” (p.172). Creating a positive future through global leadership means contributing to the societal, ecological, and fiscal well-being of one’s company and the world, and in order to be a world contributor the organization must understand the world, including the interplay of cultures that define the global society (Adler & Gundersen, 2008, p. 174). DLA Piper’s presence in the US, UK, Continental Europe and moves to be in Asia and other continents would thus require the firm to invest in its brand and in becoming a socially responsible corporate citizen.
Options & Decisions Factors DLA Piper’s move to become the pre-eminent global business law firm reveals several options and decision factors it must evaluate and act upon. These include internal and external factors: * Internal factors: * Financial integration-should they go to one common platform that can seamlessly share financial data and roll up each location to a master P & L and Balance Sheet? * Local to Global realignment-how fast and to what extent do they keep personnel on board that have a harder time or are unaccustomed to the rapidity of change? * Geographical vs. Practice groups realignment-how quickly, what measures, and what personnel will be involved in getting Continental Europe on board and into practice groups. * Cultural integration-should they ramp up and focus hard on the onboarding of new, younger lawyers who may be more cultural diverse and open to new situations versus working with old line local lawyers who may seek to protect their territories and not share clients and referrals?

* External factors: * Establishing the brand-while this may be an internal factor as well, the brand is what is seen in the marketplace. It is what the potential and current client base understands and believes about the firm. The brand would establish the global strength and reach of the firm. * Normalizing business practices and standardizing process versus the litigation and jurisprudence environments, regulations and laws of each country served. Every country has different ways of practicing the law and different requirements for doing business. These are external factors that weigh heavy on the structure of an organization, especially one that is so specialized in legal matters and litigation.
Recommendations
DLA Piper’s march toward becoming the pre-eminent global business law firm rests upon it ability to integrate three major entities in the areas of culture, practices & sectors, leadership & management teams, brand awareness & client acquisition, growth and, referrals. In order to achieve traction and penetration in all of these areas the following recommendations should be considered: * Cultural integration and standardization through new hire & recruitment program. Start recruiting lawyers with similar mindsets, while culturally diverse, open for new challenges and above all, team players. * Go ahead and bring on Continental Europe into practice groups like the US and UK, and continue with implementing sectors that group clients per their business areas. This will give the firm more standardization and proficiency and build trust and credibility. * The three CEO make up doesn’t look to be sustainable. One CEO should be chosen to cast and lead the vision and to point everyone toward the common mission to be the pre-eminent global business law firm. A Chief Operating Officer/President should be chosen to execute on the plan. Each division (UK, USA, Continental Europe, Asia, etc.) should have a managing partner/president. * Standardizing and aligning behavior is the best way to solidify the brand internally. This can be reinforced by forming a team that will measure, train, and monitor that process and ensure that it sticks at from top to bottom. Externally, the brand should be reinforced through marketing and advertising, perhaps even a 30 second spot on Super Bowl #50. * Client development needs to be intentional and the best way to develop clients is to gain deeper penetration with current clients. The firm should invest in understanding the strategic business goals of its customers and be in a position to lead. A way of doing this is to hire analysts that are not lawyers to be able to write and report on specific analysis, ventures, and strategic initiatives of their clients. These analysts could also be part of client teams that work on litigation and legal matters.
Conclusion
DLA Piper has taken significant measures to becoming the pre-eminent global business law firm. The vision of its senior leadership has brought them to a point of being able to leverage the synergies and competencies of their separate firms, but the real test of leadership will be to instill its overall vision and values on its over 2,000 lawyers and other employees and build a global brand that will attract and instill confidence in the its current and potential client base. It is not hard to see this firm becoming very successful, mainly because of its similar cultural going in, its strength in each of its current markets, and the lack of overlapping or conflicts within its client base. By instilling a culture built from both the top and bottom and investing in developing its clients through team work and referrals, the firm is poised for significant growth on a global scale.

References

Adler, N. J., & Gundersen, A. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behavior (5thed.), Mason, OH: Cengage

Chernak, A. & Lorsch, J. (2006), DLA Piper: Becoming a global firm. HBS No. 9-407-057. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.