The Marbury Institute
DLA Piper prides itself on adhering to the highest standards of quality and professionalism. To nurture those values in the world of a large, multi-office law firm, we established The Marbury Institute in honor of one of the firm’s founders, William L. Marbury, Jr. (1901-1988). The programs established under The Marbury Institute seek to instill in our lawyers the core values, goals and attributes of our firm; fostering a sense of pride in the rich past, unique role, and challenging future of our profession; developing excellent legal skills; solving client problems; communicating in clean language without legalese; and treating opposing lawyers, parties, witnesses, judges, and everyone else with whom we come into contact in a professional and civil manner.
The Institute will evolve and change, as every class of new lawyers partakes and leaves its own imprint. But the firm's commitment to the higher values of the profession will be the permanent guiding star of this effort.
Components of the Marbury Institute
The Marbury Institute Speaker Series Each month, The Marbury Institute offers a one hour program featuring a variety of speaking including law professors, clients, and firm lawyers. Learn more about the
Marbury Institute Speaker Series.
Harry L. Rudnick Business Scholarship In honor of founding partner Harry L. Rudnick, each year we sponsor firm lawyers in graduate business or other advanced degree programs—including full tuition reimbursement and work-schedule adjustments.
Harry L. Rudnick (1903-1973) practiced in the areas of franchising, real estate, and corporate law. He was a founder of the International Franchise Association and was acknowledged for his experience in representing clients during World War II on matters concerning the powerful government Office of Price Management. He later served as counsel to the Institute of European Studies.
As lawyers, we understand that the advice we give our clients must be grounded in the real world of business. The economic pressures clients face mandate practical, cost-effective solutions, but also may open new lines of analysis and ways to think about costs and benefits if lawyers genuinely understand the businesses they are advising. Business planning, finance, and accounting concepts, market and industry position, sales, personnel, management — all of these impact clients and influence the legal issues they face. A lawyer with an MBA or similar degree is better positioned to grasp the entire opportunity, challenge, or problem a client faces, not just the legal aspects of it, and to become a trusted, strategic business advisor.
Legal Skills & Practice Training The Marbury Institute supplements legal theory with practical know-how. In hands-on workshops in DLA Piper offices across the country, associates learn the basics of technology, business and real estate practice. And in off-site retreats, they hone essential transactional skills and practice litigation and trial techniques in mock trials before real judges. To learn more, visit the
Professional Development section of our site.
Pro Bono
We have a full-time Pro Bono Counsel who devotes her time to stimulating lawyer participation in pro bono activities and attracting a wide variety of quality pro bono opportunities for all the firm's lawyers. Read more about our
pro bono programs.
Legal Affairs Writing Contest for Law Students The Marbury Institute and Legal Affairs magazine are co-sponsors of the Legal Affairs Writing Contest for Law Students. The goal of the contest is to engage law students in writing for a general readership and to raise their awareness about the links straightforward legal writing can forge between the legal culture and the broader society. The contest, open to students at every accredited law school in the U.S., is designed not only to improve the quality of writing about the law, but to make such writing more accessible to both lawyers and lay readers. Contestants are asked to make an argument about a pertinent topic in the law, addressing it to a general readership of non-experts as well as lawyers. Entries will be judged by the editors of Legal Affairs on the ingenuity of reasoning, the strength of the evidence, and the clarity and style of the writing.