Partners DLA Piper Chile in Diario Financiero
The law office, in full merger with NDL, outlines its next steps in the country, where it already has a size that leaves it among the largest local studios.
‘Slowly but surely’. That seems to be the slogan of the growth of the global lawyer’s office DLA Piper that exactly one year ago landed in Chile after merging with the local firm Bahamondez, Alvarez and Zegers (BAZ) and that from April 1 joined the Noguera team Larraín & Dulanto.
The above is part of the onslaught of one of the largest legal groups in the world that has as one of its foci of expansion Latin America and the Caribbean, where in recent years has also placed its flag in Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Puerto Rico , while it aims soon to arrive in Argentina and continue to strengthen its position in the countries where it operates.
In Chile, for example, there is the determination to continue growing in areas of practice and most likely in the number of lawyers. Today there are more than 50 and, although the figure is not something that occupies them, they know that achieving to be the best law firm in the country, will probably go hand in hand with it. Two of its partners: Matías Zegers and Paulo Larraín discussed their ambitious goals with Diario Financiero.
– How was the union between DLA Piper | BAZ and NDL?
-Matías Zegers (MZ): It was last December when we sat down to talk whether or not there was a desire to join forces within our strategic development, while on the NDL side, they analyzed how a local merger with DLA was going.
-Paulo Larraín (PL): Our plan also included growing, as a former NLD we had a practice of M & A and very strong private equity but we saw that we needed to strengthen our team because to be in large transactions you need to have a powerful team … We saw that the study of Matías allowed us to complement our practice areas with different approaches and specialists and together we became part of the five largest studies in Santiago.
– In practice this merger what does it imply?
-MZ: In the formal name change. Today we are DLA Piper Chile and in terms of the different issues involved in the integration of equipment and systems, they have flowed quite well.
-What is the objective of this merger?
-MZ: The mandate is very clear, it is not just about giving geographical coverage to give it, but aiming to be the signature of excellence in the local market and in this process we are all part of DLA … we have the chip placed and that also translates into putting the customer first.
-To achieve this mandate, what is still to be done?
-MZ: We still need to make our value proposal known, what DLA means, what is behind DLA …
– Is there any slope in terms of adding new practices?
-MZ: We have a very strong Technology area, but we lack the intellectual property part.
-And there the formula, what would it be, also fusion?
-MZ: There may be several, maybe merger or add a complete area of practice, that’s what we are and should not happen next year.
-In the industry in recent years we have seen several integrations What differentiates them from other agreements?
-MZ: Any model could be valid, but DLA makes us more sense because we are not an office with an umbrella brand, nor with a royalty to pay, but we have partners in Peru, China, Australia, USA and that makes the form in which the interests are aligned is substantially different.
-What are the reasons that push the studies to establish this type of agreements?
-PL: Because it is a reality throughout the world and gives you many advantages, including attracting the best talent, being at the forefront of technology and regulatory issues … Somehow today we have many more advantages to compete locally that we could not have without DLA.
-What will happen to independent studies?
-MZ: Every time there will be less space for independent firms if they want to access sophisticated works, this for various reasons … if clients have legal needs of issues that affect more than one jurisdiction, they will probably decide who can offer this service in all countries where they do business and on the other hand, from the perspective of a local firm, the sources of work input are limited, and will be transformed into a much more complex reality.
