CEE FEE EARNERS CONFERENCE - DLA Piper

Welcome message
Welcome to Istanbul
“If the earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its
capital.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)
We are delighted to have over 200 DLA Piper
professionals at the first CEE Fee Earners Conference
in Istanbul on 8 and 9 July, 2011.
All fee earners from Austria, the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have been
invited together with colleagues from our still new Turkish
practice. We are also proud to have at this conference
senior representatives of such valued international client
organisations as Deutsche Telekom, ENI, HSBC, OMV,
Turkcell and Ülker/Yildiz Holding.
Why Istanbul? – you may ask. The reasons why are both
symbolic and pragmatic. The fast growing Turkish practice
represents DLA Piper at its best, emphasising the Firm’s
ambition to grow. Turkey is well known as a rapidly
developing country which has been traditionally a bridge
between Europe and the East. And, last but not least,
Istanbul offers a combination of cultural values and natural
beauty which will please you all.
What we want to achieve
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you
have to play better than anyone else.” (Albert Einstein)
The meeting has been designed to enable all our lawyers,
whether junior associates or senior country managing
partners, to share experience in a relaxed yet professional
environment. The success of the conference will depend
on all of us: the more we share, the more we will learn and
take home with us.
What we would like to achieve is for all participants to
leave Istanbul with more insight into DLA Piper’s strategic
intent across the Firm, and in Central Eastern Europe
in particular. We can only hope that as well as a better
understanding of our common objectives, there will be
new ideas born and friendships made to make this a truly
memorable experience.
The conference programme reflects one of the principal
objectives of the new strategic framework that is being
introduced and implemented across the Firm: putting client
relationships on the top of our Agenda.
This, we believe, can be achieved best if we do more to
create interaction between practice groups, offices and
regions. DLA Piper is now the world’s largest law firm
with offices in more jurisdictions than any other, which
should help.
What we are going to do
“The best way to find out what our clients think of us and
of our competitors is by asking them.” (Anonymous)
The first day will offer an opportunity for all participants
to hear more of what DLA Piper has achieved already in
Central Eastern Europe and how we intend to build
on our current achievements going forward.
The client panel promises to be the excitement of the
day: the presence of senior legal counsel from prominent
client organisations at our plenary session demonstrates
the importance of putting clients first, and highlights the
continued need for us to do so in order to implement our
client strategy across practices and regions.
A partner presentation on client service excellence and best
practice in service delivery will conclude Day 1 before we
leave for dinner.
Saturday morning workshops will enable structured
discussions to reflect on what our clients said the previous
day. Working in groups, everyone will have an opportunity
to work with colleagues and develop ideas that we can
implement locally and across jurisdictions. The feedback
session will provide guidance on how we should follow up
on what has been discussed.
Dinner on a boat cruising down the Bosphorus will bring
the event to a conclusion on Saturday night.
We do hope you will all have a great time, and look
forward to meeting you in Istanbul.
Ulrich Jüngst
Federico Sutti
www.dlapiper.com | 03