Piper-Gray Cary tie-up gets the nod
DLA’s merger suitor Piper Rudnick has plugged the gap in its West Coast strategy after voting through its merger with Palo Alto’s Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich.
The merger vote, which took place last Monday (18 October), was passed that evening.
The tie-up takes effect on 1 January 2005 and will accord the new firm more than 1,300 lawyers – 380 from technology experts Gray Cary and 1,000 from Piper Rudnick.
The new firm will be known as Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.
DLA management was heavily involved in the merger discussions from the outset. Last month, Piper Rudnick co-chairman Frank Burch told The Lawyer: “DLA is very much aware of everything we’re doing and we’re very much aware of what they’re doing.”
The pair also worked together in ironing out DLA’s French strategy. Earlier this year, Piper Rudnick hooked up with Hogan & Hartson’s former Paris ally Cariddi Mee Rué at the same time as DLA and its ally Ginestié Paley-Vincent et Associés agreed to go their separate ways.
Piper Rudnick Gray Cary will have offices across 20 locations, with projected revenues of almost $800m (£444.1m).
The Piper Rudnick-Gray Cary merger comes just over a month before DLA and Piper Rudnick are set to vote through their own merger. It is understood the Gray Cary name will disappear entirely should the DLA-Piper Rudnick merger vote be passed. The web address ‘dlapiper’ has already been registered.
The UK and US giants will vote on the proposed tie-up simultaneously on 4 December. Should it be successfully passed, the merger would create a top 10 global firm of almost 3,000 lawyers.
