The combined firm would operate under the Dentons banner and could launch in early 2013, reports London-based newspaper Legal Week.
The combined firm would be on target to generate more than £1 billion in revenue.

Top roles

Management of the group is yet to be finalised, but SNR Denton global chief executive Elliott Portnoy is expected to take the reigns, with Salans global managing partner Dariusz Oleszczuk bagging a senior management role.
Denton’s global chairman Joseph Andrew told the Am Law Daily: ‘This is the first major merger between firms with a substantial presence in the US and Canada. It also creates the world's largest energy practice and makes us the seventh-largest firm in the world [by attorney head count].’

Consolidation forecast

A former partner at one of the firms told legal Week: ‘FMC is quite a good firm, and in a three-way merger like this their global coverage looks set to be better than most of their rivals. In Salans' and SNR Denton's case, it will be interesting to see exactly how the practices will be consolidated, but I think we can expect to see severe restructurings out of the merger, which is very sad.’