Dentons

Dentons is a multinational law firm based in the United States. It was founded in March 2013¹ by the merger of SNR Denton, Fraser Milner Casgrain and Salans. The Dentons name originally belonged to Denton Hall, a law firm based in the City of London founded by Samuel Denton in 1788¹ that merged with fellow City of London firm Wilde Sapte in 2000 to form Denton Wilde Sapte, which subsequently merged with Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to form SNR Denton in 2010. As of November 2024, the London office remains Dentons' largest office by number of lawyers, with the New York office following behind in second place. As of April 2023, Dentons operated in 80+ countries and had 160+ offices. The firm has no headquarters, although the firm's senior leadership are primarily based in London, New York and Washington, D.C. Dentons is structured as a Swiss verein called the Dentons Group, which does not itself provide legal services. The Swiss verein structure encapsulates multiple cooperating legal entities, namely Dentons Canada LLP, Dentons Europe LLP, Dentons UK and Middle East LLP, and Dentons US LLP, amongst others.

Dentons is a multinational law firm based in the United States. It was founded in March 2013 by the merger of SNR Denton, Fraser Milner Casgrain and Salans. The Dentons name originally belonged to Denton Hall, a law firm based in the City of London founded by Samuel Denton in 1788 that merged with fellow City of London firm Wilde Sapte in 2000 to form Denton Wilde Sapte, which subsequently merged with Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to form SNR Denton in 2010. As of November 2024, the London office remains Dentons' largest office by number of lawyers, with the New York office following behind in second place. As of April 2023, Dentons operated in 80+ countries and had 160+ offices. The firm has no headquarters, although the firm's senior leadership are primarily based in London, New York and Washington, D.C. Dentons is structured as a Swiss verein called the Dentons Group, which does not itself provide legal services. The Swiss verein structure encapsulates multiple cooperating legal entities, namely Dentons Canada LLP, Dentons Europe LLP, Dentons UK and Middle East LLP, and Dentons US LLP, amongst others.

Acquisitions and mergers

On January 26, 2015, Dentons announced that it was combining with a Chinese firm, Dacheng ( ) which was completed in November 2015. The new firm was called 大成 (Dacheng) in Chinese and "Dentons" in other languages, with a logo featuring the Chinese and English names combined as "大成 Dentons." Following the combination, Dentons surpassed Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper, two of the world's previously largest law firms by headcount, by at least 2,500 lawyers. In April 2015, Dentons US agreed to a merger with Atlanta-based law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge which was completed in June of that year. The firm also opened new offices in Hungary, Luxembourg and South Africa during 2015 and announced combinations with firms in Australia, Colombia, and Mexico. It also launched Nextlaw Labs, a business accelerator focused on new technologies, in May 2015. Dentons also announced in November 2016 that it would become the first global law firm with a footprint in Central America by combining with Muñoz Global, adding offices in Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica operating as Dentons Muñoz was created as the Costa Rican and Central American chapter of Dentons. In April 2016, Dentons launched in Singapore by combining with the oldest and one of the most prestigious law firms in Singapore, Rodyk & Davidson. In December 2016, Dentons launched in Australia and Papua New Guinea by combining with leading Australian law firm Gadens. The Sydney, Perth and Port Moresby offices of Gadens joined Dentons, while the Adelaide and Brisbane offices became "associate offices" and the Melbourne office remained independent. The Gadens combination resulted in Dentons having approximately 7,600 lawyers serving 57 countries. In 2017, Dentons merged with Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens. As of April 12 of 2018, Dentons announced partnerships in Kenya, Mauritius, Caribbean, Indonesia and Malaysia. In 2019, Dentons announced the launch of Dentons Lee in Seoul, becoming the first international law firm to incorporate a Korean legal practice. In 2021, Dentons combined with a Nigeria-based law firm, ACAS Law. In 2022, Dentons combined with Zaanouni Law Firm & Associates in Tunisia and LuatViet in Vietnam. In October 2022, the firm announced a combination with Indian law firm Link Legal. In March 2023, Dentons announced its intention to combine with Philippines-based PJS Law. In February 2024, the combination with PJS Law was officially launched. In May 2023, Dentons launched its combination with Indian law firm Link Legal, making it the first global law firm to combine with a law firm in India. In August 2023, Dentons ended its combination with Dacheng, and established a "preferred firm" relationship, with Dacheng now operating independently as Beijing Dacheng Law Offices (大成). Dentons continued to hold its position as the largest law firm in the world, even following the conclusion of its combination with Dacheng. Dentons' Hong Kong practice is unaffected by the split and remains part of Dentons. The firm name Dentons is officially translated into Chinese as “德同”。 In October 2024, Dentons announced that it would launch offerings with four firms across Africa: Tamrat Assefa Liban Law Office in Ethiopia, LEGALIX in Senegal, Kouengoua Minou Nkongho (KMN) in Cameroon, and Pathy Liongo & Associates in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Notable lawyers

Nicholas Allard, Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School Joseph Andrew, former Global Chair of Dentons and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee Ashley Bell, former advisor in the White House Office of American Innovation; partner in Dentons' policy practice Jeff Bleich, former U.S. Ambassador to Australia Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister of Canada George W. Darden, former Member U.S. House of Representatives; presidential appointee to the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Advisor on behalf of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs Philip Jeyaretnam , Judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore Stefan Passantino, attorney, former member Office of White House Counsel Elliott Portnoy, attorney, former Global CEO of Dentons David Syed, Head of Sovereign Practice Scott Turow, author and lawyer Joseph Crowley, Former U.S. Congressmen (NY-14)

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374213267 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.