The new law firm would be known as DENTONS, Salans FMC SNR Denton, and would employ an innovative name migration strategy to capture the brand equity of the component law firms. It will not have any headquarters or any dominant national culture. Projected as a truly global entity, the new law firm would have more than 2500 lawyers and professionals in 79 locations in 52 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, UK, and US.
The new law firm would be structured as a Swiss Verein and will be led by a global board and leadership team. While all law firms have put in a statutory disclaimer on their releases to the effect that the proposal has not yet been approved or consummated by the constituent firms or otherwise become effective, things seem to be positive.
The highlights of the merger include the new firm being the first law firm with extensive Canadian and US operations, being truly polycentric, and being beyond a US/UK merger involving firms with significant operations in Europe, Canada, the UK, and the US.
The proposal mentions that the combination is driven by the opportunity to unite three law firms with complementary geographic footprints. This will allow the new law firm to respond to client demands for greater cross-border depth and a modern, business-oriented approach to complex legal challenges.
The press release on the website of SNR Denton also mentions “While providing clients the services of the highest quality lawyers is the new firm’s goal, it will have the largest practices, by number of lawyers, in Energy, Insurance, Media and Entertainment, and Real Estate law, and the second largest Bankruptcy, International Trade and Environmental practices globally, according to industry rankings by Law 360.”