ISN'T IT RICH? - American Business Media

BAR TALK ONLINEFOR MORE ONTony Angel and DLA Piper,go to americanlawyer.com.INSIDE: 16 Ropes & Gray’s ties to Romney.18 What’s in a firm’s name?26 The new partner class of 2012.28 Seattle’s legal market heats up.BARTALKMONTRÉAL OTTAWA TORONTO CALGARY VANCOUVER NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON BAHRAIN AL-KHOBAR* BEIJING SHANGHAI* blakes.com*Associated OfficeBlake, Cassels & Graydon LLP | Practicing Exclusively Canadian LawTOUCHED BYAN ANGELCan a former Magic Circle managing partnertransform DLA Piper? By CHRIS JOHNSONIllustration by ALEXANDRA COMPAIN-TISSIERTO SOME, FORMER LINKLATERSchief Tony Angel is the mostsuccessful law firm manager of ageneration. During his ten-yeartenure as managing partner of the Magic Circlefirm, he transformed it from a London-basedpractice into a global, moneymaking powerhouse.But his critics claim he went too far inhis quest to make Linklaters more businesslike,and that by placing a premium on profits andimposing a more tightly managed structure, hedamaged the historic firm’s culture.The partners at DLA Piper will soon dis-cover which assessment of Angel rings true.Last October, the firm announced that the59-year-old former tax attorney was comingout of retirement to become its new globalcochairman and international senior partner.Angel, who will be making about $3 milliona year for a three-year term, has been taskedwith molding the global giant into a morestreamlined, profitable, and cohesive entity.The question now is whether Angel, whoretired from law firm management in early2008, can pull off a repeat performance. A lothas changed in the legal profession since then,and DLA Piper is entirely different from Link-laters. The latter is a 174-year-old blue-chipfirm that retains a more centralized structure.DLA Piper, by contrast, is a midmarket, fullservicefirm that grew through a tidal wave ofcombinations and is now a sprawling hodgepodgethat lacks financial integration. (LikeBaker & McKenzie and the recent batch oftrans-Atlantic mergers, the firm is organized asa Swiss verein—essentially a holding structurethat lets participating entities maintain theirexisting forms.)“DLA has achieved a hell of a lot over thepast ten years—the naysayers need to rememberthat—but they’ve got to a certain point inthe market, and that progress has slowed,” saysformer Clifford Chance managing partnerTony Williams, now head of law firm consultancyJomati. “Tony will help push throughThe American Lawyer | March 2012 15