MMS becomes Dentons as merger completes

Scottish law firm Maclay Murray & Spens today became part of Dentons, the world's largest law firm, as the two practices formalised the completion of their merger.

Dentons now employs 8,800 lawyers and professionals in 158 locations across 66 countries, with a significantly enhanced presence in the UK where some 800 fee earners, including 200 partners, operate from offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Milton Keynes and Watford.

At a news conference today, Jeremy Cohen, Dentons CEO for the UK and Middle East, said that in the last three years there had been a marked change in the way large UK clients appoint their legal panels. In many cases they were drastically cutting the number of firms on their panel and looking for "larger, deeper relationships" with each, including project management, enhanced service and a demonstrable understanding of the client's business, with management information and "intelligent reporting".

He commented: "Our UK strategy is built around the three pillars of creating stronger ties with key clients, investing to further develop a high-quality lower-cost platform, and growing UK market share. Maclay Murray & Spens is one of Scotland's leading law firms, and combining with them enables us to offer clients a combination of size, quality and smarter resourcing that few of our competitors in the UK can match."

Kenneth Shand, formerly CEO at Maclays and now UK board member and senior partner, Scotland at Dentons, added that the "direction of travel" of the UK market had required Maclays to expand their horizons. He said: "Our Scottish clients will benefit greatly from the fact that we have now become the only truly global law firm with a significant presence in the Scottish legal market. We are particularly excited by the fact that this combination offers our lawyers, as well as the next generation of Scottish lawyers, the opportunity to work at one of the world's most innovative and forward-thinking law firms."

In a statement Dentons' Global CEO Elliott Portnoy said: "We are delighted to welcome our new Scottish colleagues to the firm. Following recent combinations with equally high-quality firms in Latin America and Africa, launching in Scotland demonstrates that our journey 'from largest to leading' means pursuing growth opportunities in both established and developing markets as we continue to meet the needs of sophisticated global clients."