DWF secures trophy hire of former DLA Piper head Sir Nigel Knowles as chairman
Sir Nigel Knowles returns to law after retiring last year from DLA Piper
September 07, 2017 at 04:46 AM
3 minute read
DWF has hired Sir Nigel Knowles as its new chairman, nearly 18 months after he stepped down as DLA Piper's senior partner and global co-chair.
Knowles, who was knighted for his services to the legal profession in 2009, took up the role at DWF at the start of this month. He replaces Alan Benzie, who was in the role for 10 years.
Benzie is staying on at DWF as a non-executive director and continues as chair of the firm's audit committee.
Knowles said: "DWF's approach is exciting and fresh, their focus has been and continues to be centred on their clients – and anyone who knows me understands that for me, it's all about the clients."
DWF managing partner and CEO Andrew Leaitherland added: "Over the past few years, we have laid the foundations to create something completely different in the legal market for our clients, and Sir Nigel Knowles is the perfect chairman to help us take this forward as we develop our business.
"We're redefining legal services, by connecting legal expertise with a broad range of products and services to solve our clients' business problems from start to finish. To have Sir Nigel join us is a huge vote of confidence in our strategy."
Knowles led DLA Piper for two decades, overseeing the firm's transformation from a small Sheffield-based partnership to a global player.
He stepped down from his roles at DLA as global co-chairman and senior partner of the firm's international partnership at the end of April 2016, and retired as a partner in June that year.
He became managing partner of legacy Dibb Lupton Broomhead in 1996, overseeing its mergers with Alsop Stevens, and Wilkinson Kimbers to create DLA.
In 2005, DLA merged with Chicago-based law firm Piper Rudnick and San Diego-based firm Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, to create DLA Piper.
Knowles was chief executive officer of the firm's international LLP until 2014, when he took over from Tony Angel as chairman, with Simon Levine taking on the chief executive role.
DWF has grown rapidly during the past decade, rising from a £40m regional firm in 2006-07 to break through the £200m mark this year on the back of a series of mergers and acquisitions, including the pre-pack takeover of collapsed firm Cobbetts in February 2013. The firm first broke into the UK top 50 rankings in 2009-10.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Trending Stories
- 1These 2 Lawyers Just Became Florida Judges
- 2'Disease-Causing Bacteria': Colgate and Tom’s of Maine Face Toothpaste Class Action
- 3Trump's SEC Overhaul: What It Means for Big Law Capital Markets, Crypto Work
- 4Armstrong Teasdale's London Creditors Face Big Losses
- 5Texas Court Invalidates SEC’s Dealer Rule, Siding with Crypto Advocates
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
