By Ameet Sachdev | Dipak Jain, the former dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School
of Management, will become a consultant to a major law firm.

DLA Piper said Thursday that it has hired Jain to serve as a resource to
the firm’s clients as well as help with business development and
strategy.

The addition of Jain may hint at DLA’s next area of expansion. Jain is a native of India and has numerous contacts in South Asia. He also serves on the board of an Indian company, Reliance Industries, according to his biography on Kellogg’s Web site, in addition to being a director with U.S. companies, including Northern Trust Corp.

U.S. law firms are not allowed to practice law in India. British firms have established offices there to handle back-office functions, such as accounting and information technology.

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world with 3,500 lawyers in 29 countries. It recently expanded in Latin America by establishing a relationship with a Brazilian law firm.

Jain stepped down as Kellogg’s dean last summer after eight years. During his tenure, the business school remained an elite institution and expanded its global reach with partnerships in China and Canada. He remains on the faculty as a marketing professor.

Jain joins Norman Bobins, ex-chairman of LaSalle Bank, and Dale Anne Reiss, former real estate executive at Ernst & Young, who have signed on as consultants with DLA Piper.