DLA Piper has opened its third office in the Nordic region after merging with Finnish firm Peltonen LMR.
The merger means that DLA now has over 200 lawyers in the region and has offices in Finland, Norway and Sweden. As part of efforts to boosts DLA’s presence in the region the new office will “integrate more closely” with the firm’s existing Swedish office.
DLA global co-CEO Simon Levine said: “As part of our vision to be the leading global business law firm, a key part of strategy is to operate in all the major world economies and other important markets where our clients are based or do business.
“Together, the Nordic countries rank as a G20 economic entity and the region is home to some major international corporates. Many of our existing clients do business in the Nordic region and we believe they will benefit from our enhanced presence there.”
In 2011 Peltonen LMR become a 50-lawyer firm after it was formed through the merger of legacy Peltonen Ruokonen & Itäinen and legacy LMR.
The Nordic region will be included within DLA’s EMEA practice, which is led by co-managing directors Barbara van Hussen and Juan Picon. The firm now has capabilities to operate in the region across a number of its key sectors including: financial services, technology, energy, real estate, and infrastructure and construction.
In a statement Picon said he was “surprised that no other firm has succeeded in developing such a capability” in the region.
However, DLA has had suffered problems in the region in the past after it lost one if its Norwegian offices in 2009. The 30-lawyer Bergen branch left DLA to join local firm Steenstrup Stordrange because of differences between the Bergen and Oslo practices.