According to its unaudited 2018/2019 financial results, Dentons’ UK and Middle East revenue rose by 13 per cent to £229.8m, while profits per equity (PEP) increased by 4 per cent to £676,000.

Step-change

Between 2014/15 and 2017/18, PEP had grown by 31 per cent, from £497,000 to £651,000. Dentons’ chief executive for the UK and Middle East region Jeremy Cohen said “These results continue the very strong progress we have made over the past five years.” He explained, “Within the UK, our ‘one national team’ approach particularly resonates with larger clients. The integration of a fantastic team in Scotland following the Maclay Murray & Spens (MMS) merger has led to a step-change in the effectiveness of our London-regional delivery model.” Dentons, the world’s largest law firm by headcount, merged with MMS, Scotland’s oldest commercial law firm, in 2017. The merger added nearly 200 lawyers and offices in three Scottish cities, the largest of seven cross-border combinations bringing the firm to over 8,500 lawyers globally, according to Altman Weil’s MergerLine.

Major multinationals

Mr Cohen stated Dentons is gaining in business from major multinationals, with the firm recently appointed to global panels for of BASF, BP, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank. He said the Maclay merger led to a “step-change in the effectiveness of our London-regional delivery model.” Mr Cohen added, “Our intention now is to build on this progress by doubling down on our strategy of building the law firm that our clients tell us we need to be: global, providing high quality advice that responds to their specific challenges and environments, efficient, collaborative and innovative.”