Denton votes for US tie-up
Partners at City law firm Denton Wilde Sapte and its US rival Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal voted in favour of a merger yesterday that will create a business with sales of £500m employing 1,400 lawyers worldwide.
The management at both firms asked their partners to vote on the tie-up that was negotiated in secret and only revealed to their staff two weeks ago.
The deal needed 75 per cent approval, but was passed unanimously among the partners at both firms. The enlarged company will become SNR Denton on 30 September.
Current Denton chief executive Howard Morris and Sonnenschein chairman Elliott Portnoy will become the co-chief executives of SNR Denton.
Morris said: “We are delighted that our partners have recognised and embraced the unique opportunity presented by SNR Denton. With a strong client-service culture at both firms, our integration provides us with the opportunity to have lawyers working together seamlessly on shared clients.”
The enlarged firm plans to anchor its integration around a number of the key banking clients they share such as HSBC, RBS Securities, JP Morgan Chase and Citibank.