DLA Piper and Canadian law firm vote to merge
DLA Piper and Canadian law firm Davis have agreed to a merger.
The Vancouver Sun and the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) have news of the deal, approved by Davis last Wednesday and by DLA Piper the prior week. Davis has about 260 lawyers, including about 112 partners, in six Canadian offices and one Tokyo office. DLA Piper has about 4,200 lawyers in 30 countries.
The merger, in the style of a Swiss verein, will be completed in April.
DLA Piper has been targeting Canada since early 2012, according to DLA Piper’s global and Americas co-chairman Roger Meltzer. DLA had negotiated to acquire about 70 partners from dissolved mid-tier Canadian firm Heenan Blaikie last year, but the talks were not successful, At that point, Meltzer told the Am law Daily, law firm leaders “took a breath, took a step back.”
“We decided we’ve got to be more disruptive, more aggressive about” a merger, he told the Am Law Daily. “We’ve got to do something more surprising. Let’s see if there’s a firm out there that fits our size and scope without overbuying in what is already a crowded Canadian legal market.”
Meltzer said Davis has strengths in mining, energy, venture capital and project finance, all areas that are a focus of DLA Piper.
