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Dentons

Multinational Law Firm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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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.[3][4] As of November 2024, the London office remains Dentons' largest office by number of attorneys, with the New York office following behind in second place.[5]

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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.[6] 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.

In March 2023, Joseph Andrew stepped down as the Global Chairman of Dentons, which was a position he held since the three-way merger of SNR Denton, Fraser Milner Casgrain and Salans in 2010.[7]

In December 2023, Elliott Portnoy, the Global Chief Executive Officer since the three-way merger combination in 2013, announced his intention to stand down as Global CEO.[8] He officially stepped down in November 2024. Kate Barton, who joined the firm as Global CEO-Elect in September 2024, assumed the role of Global Chief Executive Officer in November 2024.[9]

As of December 2023, Dentons maintains its position as the largest law firm in the world by number of attorneys, a distinction it has held since 2015.[10] It is also one of the largest global law firms by revenue.

In the 2024 edition of the AmLaw Global 200 rankings, The American Lawyer ranked Dentons as the law firm with the 13th highest annual revenue generated worldwide, a position that follows its 5th-place ranking in 2023 and 6th-place ranking in 2022.[11]

In the 2025 edition of the Vault 100 rankings, Vault ranked Dentons as the 61st most prestigious law firm in the United States, following its 58th-place ranking in the 2024 edition of the Vault 100.[12]

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Corporate leadership

In 2021, Dentons appointed its first Global Inclusion & Diversity Officer, Kate Broer.[13] Reporting directly to the Global CEO, Broer acted as a special advisor to the Dentons Global Board.

In 2022, Dentons hired Aragon St-Charles as the firm's first ever Global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Officer.[14]

In August 2023, Nicholas Howon Park of Dentons Lee was elected as Non-Executive Chair of the Global Board of Dentons.[15]

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Acqusitions and mergers

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On 11 November 2012, SNR Denton, Salans and the Canada-based Fraser Milner Casgrain announced a three-way merger, forming a new law firm structured as a Swiss verein and named Dentons.[16][17] The partners of the three firms ratified the merger on 28 November 2012, and it was completed on 28 March 2013.[18] In addition, Dentons opened an office in Houston, Texas, in September 2013.[19]

On January 26, 2015, Dentons announced that it was combining with a Chinese firm, Dacheng (Chinese: 大成) 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.[20]

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.[21] The firm also opened new offices in Hungary, Luxembourg and South Africa during 2015 and announced combinations with firms in Australia, Colombia, and Mexico.[22] 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.[23]

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.[24]

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.[25]

In 2019, Dentons announced the launch of Dentons Lee in Seoul, becoming the first international law firm to incorporate a Korean legal practice.[26][27]

In 2021, Dentons combined with a Nigeria based law firm, ACAS Law.[28]

In 2022, Dentons combined with Zaanouni Law Firm & Associates in Tunisia[29] and LuatViet in Vietnam.[30] In October 2022, the firm announced a combination with Indian law firm Link Legal.[31]

In March 2023, Dentons announced its intention to combine with Philippines-based PJS Law.[32] In February 2024, the combination [33] with PJS Law was officially launched. In May 2023, Dentons launched its combination with Indian law firm Link Legal,[34] 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).[35] Dentons continued to hold its position as the largest law firm in the world, even following the conclusion of its combination with Dacheng.[36] 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.[37]

3D Global Affairs

In 2017 the firm formed a strategic alliance with Republican opposition research firm Definers Public Affairs, dubbed 3D Global Affairs.[38] In 2018, Dentons disavowed involvement with Definers Public Affairs's opposition research work for Facebook.[39]

DGA Group

On June 2, 2021, Denton announced the launch of Dentons Global Advisors,[40][41] composed of founding acquisition Albright Stonebridge Group along with a team of advisory industry leaders, including Ed Reilly, who serves as chief executive officer (CEO). DGA Group competes with McKinsey, BCG, and other conglomerate consultancies.

On July 27, 2021, Interel, a pan-European public affairs consultancy, was acquired by Dentons Global Advisors,[42] renamed as Dentons Global Advisors Interel. In June 2024, Dentons Global Advisors rebranded to DGA Group.[43]

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Notable attorneys

References

External links

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