Dentons, the world's largest law firm by headcount, is understood to be in more merger talks, this time with UK firm Matthew Arnold & Baldwin.
Dentons has already completed three mergers this year, including US firm McKenna Long & Aldridge and Chinese firm Dacheng, which have sent the number of Dentons lawyers surging to around 6,600. But that's not the end of Dentons' quest to employ every single lawyer worldwide (practising, non-practising or as yet unborn): the firm has already got 21 other firms to sign non-disclosure agreements concerning their future merger potential.
Matthew Arnold & Baldwin is a microbe by comparison to Dentons, with just 77 lawyers in London and Watford. But even so, an insider claims that Dentons doesn't want all of it, intending to leave behind the parts focused on small-to-medium sized enterprises. A spokeswoman for MAB told RollOnFriday, "We have had a number of discussions with various firms as part of our longer-term strategy. We never comment on any such discussions; nor are we in a position to comment on your query".
Dentons also played coy, although it managed to crowbar in 6,000 references to its love for its clients: "Like every major law firm we are constantly evaluating the market for opportunities to further enhance our business for the benefit of our clients. Given our desire to support our clients with the deepest and broadest experience possible, at any given time we are likely to be in discussion with many groups of individuals and firms across the world. We do not, however, make any comment on such discussions until they are complete to protect the privacy of those involved and to ensure our clients are the first to be informed of any enhancement to our Firm".
Just so long as it's all been cleared with Dentons' US partners, who otherwise may throw an absolute paddy.
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Dentons has already completed three mergers this year, including US firm McKenna Long & Aldridge and Chinese firm Dacheng, which have sent the number of Dentons lawyers surging to around 6,600. But that's not the end of Dentons' quest to employ every single lawyer worldwide (practising, non-practising or as yet unborn): the firm has already got 21 other firms to sign non-disclosure agreements concerning their future merger potential.
Matthew Arnold & Baldwin is a microbe by comparison to Dentons, with just 77 lawyers in London and Watford. But even so, an insider claims that Dentons doesn't want all of it, intending to leave behind the parts focused on small-to-medium sized enterprises. A spokeswoman for MAB told RollOnFriday, "We have had a number of discussions with various firms as part of our longer-term strategy. We never comment on any such discussions; nor are we in a position to comment on your query".
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Dentons also played coy, although it managed to crowbar in 6,000 references to its love for its clients: "Like every major law firm we are constantly evaluating the market for opportunities to further enhance our business for the benefit of our clients. Given our desire to support our clients with the deepest and broadest experience possible, at any given time we are likely to be in discussion with many groups of individuals and firms across the world. We do not, however, make any comment on such discussions until they are complete to protect the privacy of those involved and to ensure our clients are the first to be informed of any enhancement to our Firm".
Just so long as it's all been cleared with Dentons' US partners, who otherwise may throw an absolute paddy.
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