McKenna Long, Dentons Finally Merge

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Summary: After many months of negotiations, McKenna Long & Aldridge has completed its merger with Dentons.

On Wednesday, the anticipated merger between McKenna Long & Aldridge and Dentons finally went into effect, Daily Report Online revealed. Celebrations included cake and even happy hours at offices across the United States, the Global Legal Post added.

  

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McKenna is joining Dentons US the United States branch of the global megafirm. It is structured as a Swiss verein with separate profit pools and regional entities. The equity partnership at Dentons US voted in favor of the merger on April 8, after the equity partners at McKenna approved it.

Read about the announcement here.

McKenna will add roughly 310 lawyers to Dentons US, in addition to lobbyists and other timekeepers. Around 100 attorneys have left McKenna since the merger was announced in April, which was predicted.

As a result of the merger, Dentons will have 1,100 attorneys and other professionals in its practice, and an additional 21 offices in the United States.

In January, Dentons became the largest firm on the planet when it revealed it would be merging with Dacheng, a 4,000-attorney firm in China. As a result of that combination, the firm boasted a headcount of 6,000 lawyers. This combination will be effective later this year.

Jeff Haidet, the chairman of McKenna, commented, “It’s an historic day for the firm and we are delighted to be able to combine two very strong, talented teams to create a U.S. legal powerhouse. With 21 locations in the U.S., this team provides unrivaled access to markets across the U.S. and around the world.”

The firms moved to finalize their plans in March.

Haidet is located in the Atlanta office and will become the co-CEO of Dentons US with Peter Wolfson, the current CEO. Wolfson has a bankruptcy practice in New York.

Elliott Portnoy, the global CEO of Dentons, said, “All of our clients will benefit from the new Dentons US. We are focused on reflecting and supporting our clients’ ambitions as they develop their businesses across many borders—whether they are clients outside the U.S. looking inward, or U.S. clients looking to do business internationally.” According to the Wall Street Journal, Portnoy also said that there’s “no logical end” as to how large the firm plans to become.

In November of 2013, the deal between the firms fell through.

Mike McNamara, based in the Washington, D.C. office, will continue as managing partner for Dentons US. Mark Flanagan, the managing partner at McKenna, will become the U.S. integration partner for the combined firm. He is also located in Washington, D.C.

Source: Daily Report Online

Photo credit: crownheights.info, Dentons (Wolfson), Daily Report Online (Haidet), legalweek.com (Portnoy)