DLA Piper's global co–CEO Nigel Knowles has orchestrated one of the most remarkable transformations in modern legal business. In his managerial career of 17 years, he has overseen no fewer than 26 mergers, acquisitions, and alliances for his firm, taking DLA from a regional U.K. outfit to a global giant in record time. DLA's revenue has grown over 3,100 percent over that period, hitting $2.44 billion in 2012. It is now the world's largest law firm by both revenue and attorney head count.
When Knowles was first elected managing partner of Dibb Lupton Broomhead, one of DLA's ancestor firms, in 1996, it was a small, regional practice in the north of England, with revenues of just £50 million ($76 million). Michael Payton, senior partner of U.K.–based Clyde & Co, remembers Dibb Lupton as a local player that was doing "tolerably well."
