Dentons posts 36 per cent increase in PEP for the UK & Middle East

Jeremy Cohen

This figure only includes revenues from the legacy Maclay Murray & Spens offices since completion of the merger on 1 November 2017.

Profit per equity partner was £651,000, an increase of 36 per cent on 2016/17 (£481,000).

The firm’s contentious practices made strong progress, appearing in court acting for FTSE-100 companies more than any other firm for the second year in a row.

In particular, it worked on the Carillion liquidation, acting for the UK government and now represents the Official Receiver as Liquidator and PwC as special managers.

Dentons also represented RBS in its defence of the Wall claims and worked and on a multi-million dollar arbitration concerning the fit-out contract for Terminal 3 at Dubai Airport.

Jeremy Cohen, Dentons’ CEO for the UK & Middle East region, said: “This is our strongest ever set of financial results, following a year of exceptional performance across all areas of the business. It is particularly pleasing to have achieved this level of revenue and profit growth during a period of intensive integration activity arising from the merger with Maclay Murray and Spens. Since joining forces half way through the financial year our lawyers in England and Scotland have already worked together on more than 1,000 client matters.

“Overall, the bigger picture for us is that the investments we have made in the UK & Middle East over the past few years are now really starting to pay off. Even without the merger our revenues would have grown 9 per cent last year, but it’s the five-year trend that tells the real story. Since 2013/14 our revenues have increased by 39 per cent, with PEP rising 60 per cent, as we have successfully pursued a strategy of creating stronger ties with key clients, developing a strong value proposition, and investing to grow market share.

“During this period we have put particular effort into capitalising on the opportunities presented by the Firm’s global platform, which over the last year has expanded to 70 countries following combinations in the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific. This is now flowing through into the deals pipeline. On the Corporate side, acting for KKR on its binding €6.825 billion offer for the spreads business of Unilever was one of last year’s highlights, as was our advice to DP Eurasia on its successful LSE IPO – the first Turkish business to access the premium segment of the UK market. We would also highlight our representation of Aprirose on its £525m acquisition of QHotels – one of the UK’s largest hotel transactions of 2017.”

Mr Cohen added: “It’s been a good year for the market generally, but the continuing economic uncertainty and volatility in the UK & Middle East is something that we’re mindful of as we look ahead to the next financial year. That said, we will continue to double-down on our strategy of investing in both the quality of our practices and the efficiency of our delivery model, providing the breadth of coverage, quality and smarter resourcing that our clients increasingly demand.”