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Davis LLP, founded in Vancouver in 1892, becomes the latest law firm in the jittery Canadian legal market to give up its name in exchange for the appeal of the global reach and heft of an alliance with an international behemoth.

DLA Piper, one of the world's largest law firms, is merging with Vancouver-based Davis LLP in a deal that gives the global giant a long-sought Canadian foothold and, its worldwide chairman says, a platform to give Bay Street's elite legal players a run for their money.

"They know me," Roger Meltzer, DLA Piper's global and Americas chairman, said in an interview with The Globe. "They know me real well. So they know I am not going to stand still."

After years of speculation, rumours and failed talks with other firms, DLA Piper – a U.S.-British giant with 4,200 lawyers worldwide – is finally entering Canada's legal market. The deal will see Davis LLP, a respected mid-tier law firm with 260 lawyers, seven offices across Canada and an associate branch in Japan, rebrand as DLA Piper (Canada) LLP.

It's the latest merger to shake up Canada's slowly globalizing legal landscape. As firms here seek new competitive edges and ways to assist increasingly globe-straddling Canadian clients, global law firms continue to look to Canada for connections to oil and mining deals. In 2011, Montreal-based Ogilvy Renault LLP merged with what is now Norton Rose Fulbright. In 2013, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP merged with two foreign firms to form Dentons LLP.

Davis, founded in Vancouver in 1892, has specialties in infrastructure and mining. Mr. Meltzer said he was impressed the firm had stayed profitable despite plunging oil prices.

DLA Piper and other global law firms sniffing around Canada are clearly focused on the West's natural resources. However, Mr. Meltzer acknowledged that Davis's Toronto office "is not where [Davis] hoped it would be" and warned that it is DLA Piper's intention to "do what we can to change that and disrupt the Toronto market as well."

In 2011, DLA Piper's then-co-chairman said his firm was in merger talks with "three or four of the top 10" Canadian firms.

Last year, DLA Piper engaged in talks to absorb a chunk of the Toronto office of collapsing law firm Heenan Blaikie LLP, but the deal fell apart after the two sides could not agree on "economic terms." It was shortly afterward that DLA Piper first approached Davis LLP. After nearly a year of talks, partners in the Canadian firm voted in favour of the deal last Wednesday, Davis managing partner Robert Seidel said, calling DLA Piper "very entrepreneurial in its spirit, which is something we share and understand."

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