Dentons has confirmed that Gadens’ office in Melbourne is unlikely to join the merger between the two firms almost a year after the deal was first announced in November last year. The 500-lawyer Australian firm operates on a federalised structure wherein each of Gadens’ offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Papua New Guinea has its own separate partnership, making it a struggle to get the entire firm behind the idea of a merger. Dentons has now confirmed that Gadens’ 50-lawyer outpost in Melbourne will not be moving forward with the merged firm when the tie-up finally goes ahead at the end of this year.

Repeated setbacks

The merger between Gadens and Dentons was announced in November last year as part of a planned three-way combination with 200-lawyer legacy Singaporean firm Rodyk & Davidson which promised to ‘create the Pacific Rim’s leading global law firm’. While the new Dentons Rodyk emerged in April this year, IT issues, intellectual property concerns and a challenging firm structure have meant repeated setbacks for the combination between Dentons and Gadens.

Each office is different

A statement from Dentons seemed to bear little ill-will towards Gadens’ Melbourne for its decision to opt out of the merger: ‘Gadens and Dentons recognise that [each of Gadens’ offices] require distinct branding in response to client and market demand in those centres. Dentons recognises that each market is different and that local offices are best positioned to determine the approach that is best for them and their clients.’  

Sources: Legal Business; Legal Week