approximately 4 200 1 major practice areas arbitration banking competition and trade corporate crime corporate finance employment energy government affairs hospitality and leisure insurance intellectual property litigation mergers and acquisitions pensions private equity real estate restructuring tax technology key people roger meltzer global co chairman juan pic n global co chairman simon levine joint ceo cameron jay rains joint ceo revenue us 2.48 billion 2014 2 profit per equity partner us 1.490 million 2014 2 date founded 2005 by merger 3 company type swiss verein 2 llps website dlapiper.com dla piper is a multinational law firm located in more than 30 countries throughout the americas asia pacific europe africa and the middle east . 1 in 2014 it had total revenues of us 2.48 billion and average profit per equity partner of us 1.490 million 2 and was the third largest law firm in the united states as measured by revenue . 4 dla piper was formed in january 2005 by a merger between three law firms san diego based gray cary ware & freidenrich llp chicago based piper rudnick llp and united kingdom based dla llp . it is composed of two partnerships the united kingdom based dla piper international llp and the united states based dla piper us llp . the two partnerships share a single global board and are structured as a swiss verein . 5 contents 1 origins 2 piper rudnick 3 2005 to 2010 4 2010 to present 5 offices 6 political contributions 7 controversy 8 notable staff 9 references 10 external links origins edit dla piper s origins can be traced back to thomas townend dibb 1807 1875 and sir charles lupton obe 1855 1935 . 6 7 8 in the reception foyer of dla piper leeds office a victorian bust of thomas townend dibb is displayed as the founder of the firm . he was born in leeds in 1807 the son of a physician . he was educated at leeds grammar school and qualified in 1829 . he then became a partner of atkinson bolland & atkinson a well established practice at that time and with record of its existence from 1764 . dla can trace its yorkshire roots back to 1764 when the firm of barnard & bolland was established in leeds . the newly qualified thomas dibb became a partner at barnard & bolland and added his name in 1829 . the three letter abbreviation used by the firm today dla conceals a complex history of consolidation and name changes . it picked up lupton from nelson eddison & lupton in 1920 . the firm merged with broomhead of sheffield in 1988 . the name of the firm as dibb lupton & co. survived intact until the merger with broomheads of sheffield in 1988 . following the link with alsop wilkinson in 1996 the firm was then known as dibb lupton alsop until around the year 2000 when the name was shortened to dla . it is now known internationally as dla piper the largest law firm by revenue in the world . 9 sir charles lupton had been educated at rugby school and then trinity college cambridge . he qualified as a solicitor in 1881 practising mainly at dibb & co. later dibb lupton in leeds and also nelson eddison & lupton . 10 lupton was the lord mayor of leeds 11 12 in 1915 16 . his portrait was painted by royal portraitist sir oswald birley and his wife katharine lupton n e ashton a former leeds lady mayoress 13 was the sister of thomas ashton 1st baron ashton of hyde . lupton is the great great granduncle of catherine duchess of cambridge . 14 15 16 lupton s son was captain charles roger lupton the world war i flying ace . dibb had no children . the yorkshire obituary of june 1875 defines dibb as one of the most influential men in the borough and for long period the firm of which he in the course of time rose to be the chief has had an influential and extensive practice . 17 piper rudnick edit piper rudnick was the result of a 1999 merger between the baltimore based piper & marbury and chicago based rudnick & wolfe . 18 at the time the merger was the largest law firm merger in history . 19 the combined firm was known as piper marbury rudnick & wolfe llp until april 2002 when the firm shortened its name to piper rudnick llp . 19 piper rudnick acquired the washington d.c. based lobbying firm of verner liipfert bernhard mcpherson and hand in september 2002 . 20 2005 to 2010 edit in july 2004 uk based law firm dla llp and chicago based law firm piper rudnick announced their intention to merge on 1 january 2005 . 21 22 dla had been the result of a mid 1990s merger between three uk firms dibb lupton broomhead alsop stevens and wilkinson kimbers . 18 piper rudnick agreed to merge with san diego based law firm gray cary ware & freidenrich llp in october 2004 forming a firm with around 1 300 lawyers and 20 offices across the united states . 18 in december 2004 dla llp gray cary and piper rudnick the latter two of which had yet to complete their merger announced that the partners of each firm had approved a three way merger . 23 24 the merger became effective on 1 january 2005 and the new firm was named dla piper rudnick gray cary . 3 the merger was structured in the form of two limited liability partnerships dla piper international llp and dla piper us llp which share a single management board but are not financially integrated . 5 in july 2005 dla piper acquired ey law s 87 lawyer operation in the commonwealth of independent states including offices in moscow and st petersburg . 25 in december 2005 dla piper opened an office in beijing having recruited a team of lawyers from the beijing office of coudert brothers . 26 in january 2006 dla piper opened its first office in the middle east in dubai . 27 the firm has since opened offices in abu dhabi cairo doha kuwait city manama muscat riyadh and jeddah . on 1 september 2006 the firm shortened its name to dla piper . 28 dla piper merged with its norway based alliance firm dla nordic in the same month 29 and formed an alliance with the australia based law firm phillips fox in november 2006 with phillips fox rebranding as dla phillips fox at that time . 30 31 32 dla piper opened offices in munich germany and warsaw poland in 2007 . 33 34 2010 to present edit in february 2010 dla piper formed an alliance with the turkish law firm y ksel kark n k k 35 until 2014 . 36 in march 2010 dla piper formed an alliance with the brazil based law firm campos mello advogados . 37 in january 2011 dla piper and dla phillips fox announced their intention to merge . 38 39 the merger was approved by partners of both firms in february and was completed on 1 may when dla phillips fox become part of dla piper international llp . 40 later in the same month dla phillips fox s former new zealand based offices separated to form an independent firm . 41 dla piper formed an alliance with venezuela based law firm interjuris abogados in february 2011 which subsequently renamed as dla interjuris . 42 in 2016 the venezuelan firm exited the alliance with dla piper and reverted to operating under the name of interjuris abogados . 43 in february 2012 dla piper opened an office in mexico city having recruited a team from thompson & knight s office in the city . 42 in january 2013 dla piper announced the closure of its glasgow office 44 and the sale of its manchester and sheffield based defendant insurance practices to hill dickinson . 45 also in january 2013 dla piper opened an office in seoul in south korea . 46 47 on 2 march 2015 dla phillips fox new zealand became dla piper new zealand . on 17 april 2015 canadian law firm davis llp became dla piper canada llp . 48 on 13 october 2015 dla piper announced the opening of an office in casablanca in morocco . 49 on november 1 2016 dla piper canada llp combined with dimock stratton llp and will operate under the dla piper name . 50 an office is due to open in johannesburg in early 2016 . offices edit dla piper has over 80 offices in more than 30 countries across the americas asia pacific australasia europe africa and the middle east 51 political contributions edit dla piper was the twelfth largest donor to president barack obama s 2012 re election campaign . 52 according to the center for responsive politics dla piper was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle donating 2.19 million 73 % to democrats . 53 by comparison during that same period akin gump strauss hauer & feld donated 2.56 66 % to democrats 53 while oil conglomerate exxonmobil donated 2.66 million 88 % to republicans . 54 since 1990 dla piper has contributed 16.97 million to federal campaigns and spent over 1 million on lobbying since 2002 . 55 as of 2014 it was the fifth largest donor to potential presidential candidate hillary clinton . controversy edit in 2010 dla piper represented paul ceglia in his claim that he hired mark zuckerberg to create a website that became facebook and that under the agreement ceglia was entitled to ownership of 84 percent of facebook then worth multiple billions of dollars . 56 zuckerberg and facebook responded that while ceglia had hired zuckerberg to work on an unrelated site ceglia had fraudulently altered that contract to make it appear to cover facebook . a dla piper attorney told the wall street journal that although he had not seen the original document he had absolutely 100 % confidence that mr. ceglia s agreement is authentic . 57 ceglia s document was later in fact found to be fraudulent and in 2014 facebook and zuckerberg sued dla piper and others claiming ceglia s lawyers knew or should have known that the initial lawsuit was a fraud . 58 the suit was later dismissed . 59 60 notable staff edit former us senator george mitchell was dla piper s chairman between 2003 and 2009 . 61 62 as of 2012 he is chairman emeritus . 63 tom daschle a former us senator and us senate majority leader was policy adviser at dla piper from december 2009 64 to october 2014 . 65 miriam gonz lez dur ntez wife of former deputy prime minister of the united kingdom nick clegg was a partner at dla piper from 2006 to 2011 . 66 michael castle former governor of delaware has been a partner at dla piper since 2011 . 67 sir nigel knowles was managing partner from 1996 to 2015 and global co chairman from 2015 to 2016 . 68 james blanchard former us governor and former ambassador to canada has been partner since 1996 . 69 jos mar a aznar former prime minister of spain has been senior adviser to dla piper s global board since 2013 . 70 71 ray lahood former secretary of the department of transportation has been senior policy adviser since 2014 . 72 bart chilton former us commodity futures trading commissioner has been senior policy adviser since 2014 . 73 saxby chambliss former us senator has been partner since 2015 . 74 references edit a b facts and figures . dla piper . retrieved 4 may 2011 . a b c the am law 100 the early numbers dla posts record profits despite flat revenue . the amlaw daily . 1 february