Dentons' Chinese merger to create world's biggest law firm

The world's biggest law firm, by headcount, will result from the merger diclosed today between international firm Dentons and Chinese practice Dacheng.

Understood to be taking effect next week, the tie-in will create a practice with 6,500 lawyers worldwide. Dentons operates across Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, CIS and the Caucasus, and the USA, as well as from UK offices in London and Milton Keynes. Dacheng is the largest independent firm in China and the Asia-Pacific region, and also has a presence in Russia and Mongolia.

Dentons itself in its present form represents successive mergers since 2010 of the former Dentons Wilde Sapte with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (USA), Salans (North America and Europe), and Fraser Milner Casgrain (Canada). Its 2013 revenue was £860m.

The move easily overtakes in headcount terms the present largest firm, DLA, which claims 4,200 lawyers in more than 30 countries.