Law firms SNR Denton, Salans and Frasner Milner Casgrain (FMC) will be merging to form Dentons in Q1 2013.

The merger is designed to give clients of all three firms more global coverage.

“As a law firm not born out of the union of UK and US firms and as the first combination involving a leading Canadian firm and a firm with a substantial US presence [FMC], Dentons is uniquely positioned to offer clients inventive, business-oriented solutions while delivering value,” the firms say in a statement.

Dentons will have no headquarters so as to avoid a dominant national culture, and capitalise on diverse backgrounds of 2,500 lawyers in civil law, English common law and US common law. It will have 79 locations in 52 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East, the UK and the US. It is set to become the seventh-largest law firm in the world by number of lawyers and professionals.

“While previous law firm mergers in Europe have involved firms with a primary focus in one European jurisdiction, the depth and breadth of Salans’ presence across Central and Eastern Europe makes this combination unique in both scope and size,” the firms add.

Dentons’ leadership team will include:

  • Elliott Portnoy, global CEO
  • Joe Andrew, global chair
  • Francois Chateau, global vice-chair
  • Bill Jenkins, global vice-chair
  • Matthew Jones, UK, Middle East and Africa CEO
  • Dariusz Oleszczuk, Europe CEO
  • Chris Pinnington, Canada CEO
  • Peter Wolfson, US CEO
  • 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