YP Business profile: Allison Page - DLA Piper

Law giant DLA Piper's new office managing partner for Leeds, Allison Page, believes Yorkshire is on the verge of a bold new dawn. Mark Casci reports.

The motivation does not just come from the passion and intensity with which she talks about her career and her aspiration for the city.

It comes from the fact that she makes even the most busy people I have come across seem like coasters in comparison.

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At the start of the year Ms Page was appointed to be DLA Piper’s office managing partner for Leeds.

31 october 2013.
The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, last night (thursday).
Companies over £50M Turnover Award winner Zenith.
Allison Page, of DLA Piper, with Andrew Cope, of Zenith, with host Dan Walker.31 october 2013.
The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, last night (thursday).
Companies over £50M Turnover Award winner Zenith.
Allison Page, of DLA Piper, with Andrew Cope, of Zenith, with host Dan Walker.
31 october 2013. The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, last night (thursday). Companies over £50M Turnover Award winner Zenith. Allison Page, of DLA Piper, with Andrew Cope, of Zenith, with host Dan Walker.

Taking over from predecessor Sarah Day (who is set to take on the role of UK head of finance for the firm) Ms Page takes control of a team of more than 500 people which is doing multi-jurisdictional work around the clock.

However in addition to this multi-faceted role, the married mother-of-four also has also for the past three years served as a non-executive at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She is also chair of the Two Percent Club in Yorkshire (an organisation which aims to improve the levels of females represented on UK boards), business representative on the Sustainable Economy and Culture Board (SECB) for Leeds City Council and a founder of the Millennials Forum (a body designed to give 20 to 34 year olds more input into the city).

It is little wonder that last year she was named in the Northern Power Women Top 50 list and she is a former winner of the Legal Business Woman of the Year accolade at the Law Society Excellence Awards.

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And, in the short 30 minutes I spend with her, it is clear that she is resolutely committed to her role with the firm and to improving life at large in the city of Leeds and beyond.

31 october 2013.
The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, last night (thursday).
Companies over £50M Turnover Award winner Zenith.
Allison Page, of DLA Piper, with Andrew Cope, of Zenith, with host Dan Walker.31 october 2013.
The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, last night (thursday).
Companies over £50M Turnover Award winner Zenith.
Allison Page, of DLA Piper, with Andrew Cope, of Zenith, with host Dan Walker.
31 october 2013. The Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, last night (thursday). Companies over £50M Turnover Award winner Zenith. Allison Page, of DLA Piper, with Andrew Cope, of Zenith, with host Dan Walker.

“I have to say this is the job I have most wanted in my career,” she says.

“I love DLA Piper. There is so much that can be achieved, we are very outward looking. Most of clients are global, we are not in the SME space. I feel there is an opportunity now, to look to our global clients and see what the investment opportunities are. Because I am so outward looking I felt it was time to make a change. I have strong relationships across the city.

“I have a very outward looking view of life. I think I am regarded as having good people skills but also good business skills. When you are looking to take on one of the biggest parts of the empire you need someone who has that combination. It is a real honour for me to do it. I love Leeds, it’s my home. I have big ambitions to really build the Yorkshire practice and the Leeds office.”

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One of the areas Ms Page is most clear about in terms of her strategy is to have greater emphasis on recruitment and the make-up of the Leeds office’s workforce.

“My objective is to expand in Yorkshire and to do that I think one of the things that is very important to do is that you must engage with the younger generation,” she says.

“I will ensure as we go forward with promotions we will have good gender balance.

“When you get the best brains in the room you get the best outcomes.

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“We are finding great ways of making sure that people get everything out of their family life and everything out of their career as well, to the extent that that is humanly possibly.

“And of course being able to work in a really agile way helps people. What I say to all of our young people and our partners as well is that your career is a marathon, not a sprint.

“One of things are really keen to change is the idea that just because peoples’ bottoms are not on seats means that they are not doing the job properly. In my team five out of six partners are female. For the Leeds office all of the promotion to senior lawyer are female.

“I am much more focused on output. All of our young people are very clever and are among the top graduates. They do not need to be treated as if they are children.

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“Life is changing really rapidly and businesses that do not get with the programme will miss out. Young people do not want to work in the same way I did.

“Any city that is not engaging and attracting that generation is not going to be economically successful. You need new blood and new generations to come through.”

Her speciality is major infrastructure projects, predominantly waste management, energy and civil engineering deals.

“My deals tend to be in the billions rather than the millions” she says.

“My real passion is for civil engineering projects.

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“For a long time now I have led the infrastructure and banking team here in Yorkshire.

“We have got a team of about 40 people in that team and they are all doing deals you will have heard of on a national basis, things like Docklands Light Rail and Crossrail.”

While Ms Page’s enthusiasm for the day-to-day machinations of life at the firm is palpable, it is for the external opportunities for the region that she reserves particular passion.

“I suppose Yorkshire has always been an extremely strong epicentre. Leeds has always been one of the most successful offices for DLA Piper in the world. I think in Yorkshire as a whole has a huge opportunity as part of the Northern Powerhouse and more widely the UK. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution the eyes of the world are focused on the north of England in a really positive way. So there is a real opportunity for all of us to take this moment and absolutely make the most of this.”

While a commitment to relentless positivity is a mantra from professional services at present, one cannot help but take heed of the sentiment, nor doubt its basis in truth.

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