DLA Piper
Our view...     When Dibb Lupton Broomhead and Alsops merged in the nineties most City firms barely raised an eyebrow. One partner at a top ten firm commented that "instead of two mid-sized crap firms, there's now one large crap firm." The last few years have proved him wrong. Very wrong.     DLA Piper has expanded relentlessly - in 2003 its stated aim was to be a top five full-service European law firm. Then in 2005 it pulled off two mergers with the US's Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary creating the third biggest law firm in the world, now employing over 3,500 lawyers. Whether you like it or not, DLA Piper is now as ubiquitous as McDonalds. It has also posted market-beating results along the way. Turnover (excluding the US) has hit £367 million, profits per equity partner stand at £605,000 - putting the firm higher than those of City stalwarts such as Simmons & Simmons and Norton Rose.      No surprise then that lawyers are beginning to speak of the firm's "growing prestige" in the City - DLA Piper's London office has long been considered the best of any national firm. Now it is beginning to build a portfolio of deals that wouldn't shame the magic circle.     Two deals which took place in 2004 neatly illustrate the progress the firm has been making of late. Firstly, the real estate team showed it could play with the big boys by advising the Blackstone Group on the purchase of the Savoy Group for a cool £750 million. When combined with their new-found American allies, an independent survey has suggested that DLA Piper now possesses the best real estate capability in the world.     The firm also acted (jointly with A&O) on what was probably the most ambitious project of the year - the groundbreaking NHS programme for IT, which at the time was the largest project of its kind undertaken anywhere in the world. And they didn't stop there. Revenues for the TMT group had already increased by an impressive 40% in 2003, but DLA Piper has since pulled off an audacious raid on Denton Wilde Sapte - taking 11 partners in one of the biggest team raids ever seen in the City.     And the downsides? Well, the profits mentioned above are per equity partner, and only a third of the partnership holds full equity. Top of equity may be a staggering £1.1 million - more than pretty much anywhere outside Slaughter and May and the US firms - but unless your name begins with Nigel and ends in Knowles you won't get anything like this. And bear in mind that the figures on the right apply only to London - you'll be on an awful lot less outside the capital (as one of its regional assistants pointed out, "it's galling to note that NQs get more than 3PQE solicitors in Leeds").      For all its talk about what happy campers its lawyers are (the firm makes much of its annual inclusion in the Sunday Times survey of best places to work) the hours are long and not everyone appreciates the firm's aggressive attitude. Including, apparently, some clients - Alchemy recently criticised its greediness in acting on both sides of the same deal.     But none of this really detracts from the fact that DLA Piper continues to go from strength to strength. The firm has said that it would look to float if the Clementi review allows it - we'd certainly be tempted to buy a few shares.     Email your comments	Salary, new trainee	36000
	Salary, newly qualified	63000
	Salary, 1 PQE	66000
	Salary, 2 PQE	72000
	Salary, 3 PQE	78000
	Salary, 4 PQE	85000
	Target hours	1500
	Holiday	25
	Pension	Contributory 6% approx, rising to 8% at associate level
	Healthcare	Yes
	Maternity policy	18 weeks, up to 40 weeks once 2 years' service. 5 days paternity leave.
	Gym	Subsidised
	Restaurant	Yes
	Other	Service leave scheme - up to ten days extra holiday can be earned over three years. Concierge service.
	Number of training places per year	90 (28 in London)
	% of trainees retained	85
	24 hour photocopying support	Yes
	24 hour secretarial support	Yes