Senior management discuss closures in non-essential markets
Simon Levine, DLA Piper’s global co-chief executive, has said that the firm’s recent office closures in Berlin, Tbilisi and Canberra are a result of ‘nothing more than a mature business reviewing strategically where it needs to be from time to time’.
In the space of a month, DLA confirmed it would close the three offices, including exiting Georgia as a result of the closure in Tbilisi. In Australia the firm maintains its four offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney and in Germany DLA still has offices in Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich.
Speaking to Legal Business, Levine said that the closures were in the pipeline for a long period of time, and came as a result of the firm’s last global strategy review.
‘We reviewed whether there were any places where it didn’t make any sense for us to be. That may be for strategic reasons, or there is no client demand. The ones that didn’t make sense for us were those three places. Canberra is not a commercial centre. In Australia we have four offices, more than most international law firms. In Germany we have a number of other offices and, again, Berlin is not a commercial centre. As for Georgia – that whole region we service out of Moscow, St Petersburg and we have our office in Ukraine. There was no strategic need. In total you are talking about five partners, three offices. Which is tiny. There are no other offices that we are looking to close.’
‘There was no strategic need. You are talking about five partners, three offices. There are no other offices that we are looking to close.’
Simon Levine, DLA Piper
Levine added that DLA’s presence in all three locations was as a result of historical acquisitions made over the last decade.
‘Georgia was part of the EY team when we acquired Ukraine, St Petersburg, Russia. Canberra was part of Phillips Fox when we did the merger in Australia, and Berlin was opened as part of the whole German expansion with Ulrich Jüngst, who founded the firm in Germany and has since left.’
Expanding elsewhere
Meanwhile, both Levine and Juan Picón, DLA’s international senior partner and global co-chair, reject any suggestion the firm is downsizing its international operations, pointing to the firm’s strategy of expanding in the key markets like Latin America, the Nordics and Spain.
Picón noted: ‘As far as Latin America is concerned, over the last 18 months we have built a presence in Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile and Peru which, combined with the alliance we have in Brazil, gives us 215 lawyers. The Nordics, after the combination with LETT, has created the largest international law firm in the region. And in Portugal we have the recent combination with ABBC, which added 50 lawyers to the Iberian structure. The expansion has been remarkable in a difficult environment.’
Levine also ruled out speculation that the firm is in the advanced stages of a Dublin launch. ‘It was a misunderstanding. We are not in the advanced stages of launching in Dublin. We have not approached any firm, we have never been in discussions with any firm. What was said was incorrect.’
Although Picón admitted that the idea of a Dublin launch had been discussed among the executive and the board, he emphasised that there is nothing planned for the immediate future and that the firm is also considering further strategic growth in other locations, such as Latin America.
‘One of the other alternatives for Latin America is Argentina – that is an opportunity that we may consider in the future.’
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk