TORONTO, NEW YORK and LONDON, Nov. 8,
2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Three leading law firms, Salans,
Fraser Milner Casgrain (FMC) and
SNR Denton, are recommending to their partners on
Tuesday, November 13, that they
become foundational members in the creation of a new top ten
international law firm. The firms will bring together their unique
strengths, experience and cultures across Europe, Canada, the UK, the US, the Middle East, Central and East Asia, and Africa to create a fully integrated global
firm that will rank as the seventh largest law firm in the world,
measured by number of lawyers and professionals.
The new firm will be uniquely positioned to serve clients as: a
firm not centered on the uniting of a UK and US firm; the first
combination involving a Canadian firm and a firm with a substantial
US presence; and a truly polycentric firm.
Beyond a US/UK Merger: The combination is the most
significant law firm combination not born out of the merger of a UK
and US firm and the only combination involving firms with
significant operations in Europe,
Canada, the UK and the US.
First Firm with Extensive Canadian and US Operations: FMC
is the first Canadian firm to combine with a firm that has a
substantial presence in the US, allowing a single firm to meet the
needs of clients operating on both sides of the largest trading
relationship between two countries in the world.
Truly Polycentric: The new firm fully embraces the
diversity of its geography, cultures and legal traditions,
qualities that make it truly polycentric. It will have no
headquarters, no dominant national culture, and will proudly offer
clients talent from diverse backgrounds and countries with deep
experience in Civil Law, English Common Law and US Common Law.
The combination is driven by the opportunity to unite three
firms with complementary geographic footprints. This will
allow the new firm to respond to client demands for greater
cross-border depth and a modern, business-oriented approach to
complex legal challenges. The client base of the new firm
will include many of the world's leading multi-national private and
public corporations, funds, banks, insurance companies and
governmental entities. The platform will also allow the new
firm to challenge other leading global law firms more effectively
and significantly grow its market share of legal services.
Bringing together this depth and array of talent will enable
clients to benefit from more than 2,500 lawyers and professionals
in 79 locations in 52 countries across Africa, Asia
Pacific, Canada,
Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East, the UK and the US in key business
sectors:
- The combination unites pre-eminent Energy practices in
Africa, Asia, Canada,
Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, the UK and the US. In
addition, it connects a dominant Canadian Mining practice to strong
practices in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the UK and the US.
- It will create an international leader in Banking and Finance,
offering clients the full range of transactional, dispute
resolution and regulatory services in the world's leading financial
and commercial centers: London,
New York, Paris, Toronto, Frankfurt, Hong
Kong, Moscow, Dubai, Chicago, Shanghai and Singapore.
- The combination joins three leading Real Estate practices, and
clients will now have singular access to preeminent real estate
teams in Asia, Europe, the UK and North America who specialize in private equity
and sovereign wealth funds, real estate finance and capital
markets, hotels and resorts, development and construction,
acquisition and disposition and leasing.
- The new firm brings together leading Insurance practices
serving top clients in six of the eight largest commercial
insurance markets in the world: Canada, China, France, Germany, the UK and the US.
- The new firm will offer clients top tier talent and leading
practices on four continents in additional sectors and capabilities
in demand by clients including Antitrust and Competition;
Bankruptcy and Restructuring; Capital Markets; Corporate;
Employment, Benefits and Pensions; Government; Healthcare &
Life Sciences; Hotels & Resorts; Intellectual Property;
International Trade; Litigation and International Arbitration;
Luxury Brands; Manufacturing; Mergers & Acquisitions; Privacy;
Private Equity; Public Policy and Regulation; Securities; Tax;
Technology, Media & Telecommunications; Transportation,
Infrastructure and Construction; Trusts, Estates and Wealth
Management; and Venture Technology.
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.
The new firm will be known as:
DENTONS
Salans
FMC SNR Denton
It will employ an innovative name migration strategy to capture
the inherent brand equity of the Salans, FMC and SNR Denton names
in their current geographies, commencing with the use of
dentons.com as the new firm's URL on the effective date of the
combination. For more details, see
www.dentonscombination.com/name on November 13.
The new firm will be structured as a Swiss Verein and led by a
global board and leadership team including:
Elliott Portnoy, Global Chief
Executive Officer, currently SNR Denton's Global Chief Executive
Officer
Joe Andrew, Global Chair, currently
SNR Denton's Global Chair
Francois Chateau, Global Vice-Chair, currently Salans' Global Board
Chair
Bill Jenkins, Global Vice-Chair,
currently FMC's National Partnership Board Presiding Member
Matthew Jones, UK, Middle East and Africa Chief Executive Officer, currently SNR
Denton's EMEA Chief Executive Officer
Dariusz Oleszczuk, Europe
Chief Executive Officer, currently Salans' Global Managing
Partner
Chris Pinnington, Canada Chief Executive Officer, currently
FMC's Chief Executive Officer
Peter Wolfson, US Chief Executive
Officer, currently SNR Denton's US Chief Executive Officer
Jana Cohen Barbe, currently SNR
Denton's Financial Institutions and Funds Sector Co-Chair
Michael Barr, currently SNR Denton's
US Senior Partner
Neil Cuthbert, currently SNR
Denton's Middle East Senior Partner
Mike Kaplan, currently Managing
Partner of FMC's Toronto Office
Martin Kitchen, currently SNR
Denton's UK Senior Partner
Evan Lazar, currently Salans' Global
Real Estate Co-Chair
The partners of each firm will vote on the proposed combination
in November. Subject to the vote, the combination will become
effective in the first quarter of 2013.
For further information and details regarding the new firm,
visit www.dentonscombination.com on November
13th:
Location List and Global Map:
www.dentonscombination.com/locations
Naming Convention: www.dentonscombination.com/name
Leadership: www.dentonscombination.com/organization
Contact Information:
|
Global
|
|
|
Stuart
Wilson
|
|
|
+1 212 398
8466
|
|
|
stuart.wilson@snrdenton.com
|
|
|
|
|
Europe
|
Canada
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UK
|
Annette
Spencer
|
Amy
Holmes
|
Louise
Ray-Hill
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+44 207429
6029
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+1 416 863
4481
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+44 (0)
7246 7082
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aspencer@salans.com
|
amy.holmes@fmc-law.com
|
louise.ray-hill@snrdenton.com
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US
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Asia
Pacific/Middle East
|
|
Mark
Goldberg
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Marie
McDermott
|
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+1 212 398
5297
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+86 21
2315 6039
|
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mark.goldberg@snrdenton.com
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marie.mcdermott@snrdenton.com
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|
Salans is a full service international commercial law firm
built on a pioneering spirit, with 930 fee earners and over 1,500
staff operating from 20 offices. The firm prides itself on its
independent and entrepreneurial spirit, combining extensive
international capabilities with solution-oriented local expertise,
market intelligence and experience in each jurisdiction in which it
operates. Salans has established offices in financial hubs and
capital cities in 17 countries across Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS, North
America and Asia. The
offices are listed here alphabetically: Almaty, Baku,
Barcelona, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Kyiv, London,
Madrid, Moscow, New
York, Paris, Prague, Shanghai, St.
Petersburg and Warsaw.
Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (FMC) is one of Canada's leading business and litigation law
firms with more than 500 lawyers and professionals in six
full-service offices located in the country's key business centers.
The firm focuses on providing outstanding service and value to its
clients and it strives to excel as a workplace of choice for its
people. Regardless of where clients choose to do business in
Canada, FMC's strong team of
professionals possess knowledge and expertise on regional, national
and cross-border matters. FMC's well-earned reputation for
consistently delivering the highest quality legal services and
counsel to its clients is complemented by an ongoing commitment to
diversity and inclusiveness to broaden its insight and perspective
on its clients' needs.
SNR Denton is a
client-focused international legal practice delivering quality and
value. It serves clients in key business and financial centers from
more than 60 locations worldwide, through offices, associate firms
and special alliances across the US, the UK, Europe and Central
Asia, the Middle East,
Asia Pacific and Africa, making it a top 25 legal services
provider by lawyers and professionals. SNR Denton offers
business, government and institutional clients premier service and
a disciplined focus to meet evolving needs in eight key industry
sectors: Energy, Transport and Infrastructure; Financial
Institutions and Funds; Government; Health and Life Sciences;
Insurance; Manufacturing; Real Estate, Retail and Hotels; and
Technology, Media and Telecommunications.
Legal Notice
This information relates to a proposed combination of Salans
LLP, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP and SNR Denton Group (A Swiss
Verein), and their members and affiliated undertakings, which has
not yet been approved or consummated by the constituent firms or
otherwise become effective.
SOURCE SNR Denton