Tom Moore looks to the future of DLA as he meets the firm’s latest leader
Juan Picón’s face now adorns the WhatsApp group ‘Executive Rules’, used by DLA Piper’s leadership to share videos of karaoke nights, office yoga sessions and champagne moments, while running the world’s second largest law firm by revenue.
This is the next generation of DLA leadership. Simon Levine replaced Sir Nigel Knowles as co-chief executive of DLA in 2015, and Picón is set to become senior partner and chair when Knowles retires at the end of April. When Picón assumes the job from the man who built DLA, he will become the first Spanish leader of a global firm.
It has been a rapid rise for corporate partner Picón, who has quadrupled the size of the Spanish practice to 85 lawyers in the ten years since he joined from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and had stints as corporate head and European and Middle East managing director. It could have been very different, with two other offers on the table from rival firms when he met Knowles for dinner on the 11th floor of the firm’s London offices in 2006. ‘Other firms were telling me what to do and what not to do. I asked Nigel what he wanted me to do in Spain and he said: “I don’t have a clue – that’s why I’m talking to you.” So for the first time I felt there was someone who trusted me.’
But while Picón says the firm ‘still doesn’t have our finished product in Latin America, India and Africa’, where he wants expansion, his appointment confirms the end of the days of rapid globalisation and boosts the firm’s push upmarket. He argues: ‘There are more firms becoming global but we have an advantage in being there for quite some time. We need to make sure we up the ante in terms of quality of people and the clients. We have to continue doing lateral hiring and be demanding of our partners.’
‘I’m not Tony Angel and I’m not Nigel Knowles. I’m different.’
Juan Picón, DLA Piper
The firm has already set itself a target of achieving 75% partner utilisation, based on a benchmark of 1,900 hours a year, and Picón is keen to ramp up use of the firm’s £15m global pot for strategic investments. ‘We don’t necessarily need to increase it, but we certainly need to use it more and use it up completely,’ he says, with a particular eye on London, New York and Germany.
With integration between DLA’s US and international businesses hampered by its use of two separate profit pools, Picón says: ‘We are working on plans for greater, and full, integration.’ This, he says, would pay off as ‘a lot of the big corporates are American firms, so getting ourselves more integrated with our American colleagues taps into that’. His close relationship with the firm’s American leaders, Roger Meltzer and Jay Rains, is seen as an advantage after having co-headed DLA’s recent push in Latin America with Meltzer.
Picón says his experience as Spain managing partner was going to be a central strand in his pitch to the DLA partners, but wasn’t needed as no rival emerged to challenge him. Picón entered the race on the first day it opened and while there was talk of former senior partner Janet Legrand entering the election, she sent an e-mail to the partnership two days before the entry deadline ruling herself out.
Picón concludes: ‘I’m not Tony Angel and I’m not Nigel Knowles. I’m different. Simon and I intend to work closely together as we are much more powerful as a team than individually. Firms that have not managed to get that combination right have suffered.
‘We have to work further on integration. I intend to manage with a light touch, but the fact I have a strong practice allows me to know what the clients demand and how to get better in different markets. I’m recognised as a top practitioner in the market so I know what it takes. I will make sure we aspire to do better and try to get better people to move up the quality of the firm.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk