Frank Ryan has been named global chair and co-CEO while Charles Severs serves as global co-CEO
DLA Piper has received the support of its partners in the US and across its international arm on a new global leadership structure that will see DLA Piper US LLP and DLA Piper International LLP united under one leadership team.
A global LLP will now govern the current US and international entities, which will remain in place. The existing DLA Piper Global Swiss verein will be dissolved for the new structure.
Frank Ryan has been named global chair and co-CEO while Charles Severs serves as global co-CEO. John Gilluly and Loren Brown have been appointed as vice chairs while Sandra Wallace and Rick Chesley will be global co-managing partners.
Benjamin Parameswaran, who was global co-chair of the firm’s corporate/M&A practice from 2022 to 2024, has been named DLA Piper’s international managing director for clients. Global executive and policy committees will also be established to guide the firm’s strategic direction.
The new structure will be implemented on May 1. The partners approved the change on 24 April after a two-week voting period.
“Today’s milestone marks the next step in two decades of successful collaboration between our US and International businesses. DLA Piper already advises clients on some of the market’s most complex local and cross-border issues, but our ambition is to bring the full strength of our platform to the market”, Severs said. “This move reflects our shared confidence that DLA Piper can take market share when the firm operates with unified global focus and coordination”.
Ryan added that the change bolsters the firm’s ability to “invest in the lawyers, teams, and technologies that will reshape competition in major legal markets” in a landscape “marked by the increasing complexity of doing business across borders, with less trade and regulatory certainty, and rapid technological disruption”.
DLA Piper is expected to continue serving clients without pause while the structure is being implemented.
