Dentons released financial results this week for its U.K., Middle East and Africa arm, a limited liability partnership that saw gross revenue rise 1 percent in 2016-17 to 166 million ($214.5 million).
Profits per partner for its UKMEA arm fell 9 percent during Dentons most recent fiscal year, to 481,000 ($621,596), down from 530,000 ($684,919) in 2015-16, when the firm s partner profit metric rose by 6 percent. The unaudited figures released by Dentons this week come as the growing global legal giant expanded once again, opening an office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, after absorbing 10-lawyer local firm Avent Advokat.
We are excited to join the world s largest law firm, said a statement by Eldor Mannopov, managing partner of Avent Advokat and the new leader of Dentons outpost in the former Soviet republic. We look forward to collaborating actively with our colleagues from across Central Asia and around the globe with world-class client service and value.
Dentons Tashkent office will provide full-service business law advice to clients in the banking and finance, corporate, energy, infrastructure and technology sectors. The firm already has Central Asian offices in Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan, as well as Baku, Azerbaijan; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
In May, Dentons entered Myanmar by adding a seven-person team in the country s capital of Yangon by bolting on local firm Livingstons Legal. Dentons also opened an office in Peru that same month after combining with Lima s Gallo Barrios Pickmann, while also forging an alliance with Brazil s Vella Pugliese Buosi Guidoni in S o Paulo.
Those moves came on the heels of Dentons announcing an affiliation with Hawaii s Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing and establishing tie-ups with Costa Rica s Mu oz Global and Dutch firm Boekel de Ner e. Dentons has also recently hired in Australia following the completion of yet another combination.
Dentons financial performance for its UKMEA region comes after a year in which it acquired a 75-strong team from British firm Matthew Arnold & Baldwin. Earlier this year, Dentons confirmed that it would shed up to five lawyer jobs in the U.K. and another 60 positions in the U.S. amid a budget shortfall.
We are pleased to have recorded a fourth successive year of revenue growth, which has been achieved against the backdrop of some pretty volatile trading conditions in our core U.K. market, said a statement by Jeremy Cohen, CEO of Dentons UKMEA arm. Cohen highlighted strong performances by the firm s corporate, fund finance and financial services disputes practices as contributors to its 2016-17 results.
Copyright The American Lawyer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.