In January, Dentons Dacheng became the world’s largest law firm - with a headcount of 6,500 lawyers that make it 50% larger than second-placed Baker & McKenzie. But, even though insurance is a specialist area for Dentons, it seems unlikely to challenge Clyde & Co at the moment. The Dentons side of the new combination has 271 insurance lawyers including 88 partners. Until the Dacheng link-up, it had just five insurance partners in the Asia Pacific region.

Co-ordination

China offers extraordinary growth prospects in a sector which is currently dominated by just three domestic organisations. But, as Insurance Legal Post, was going to press, Dentons Dacheng was still amalgamating its global insurance teams. Dentons US, rated 2nd (behind Simpson Thacher & Bartlett) on insurance in the Legal 500, will probably start working closely with Dacheng to co-ordinate the global practice.

Marine insurance

Asked how it sees itself, Clyde said it has the ‘strongest and most extensive focus on insurance of any major international firm’, adding: ‘We are distinguished by our ability to offer insurance companies the broadest coverage of business lines at the highest quality and on a global scale.’ It has numerous specialisms within the insurance sector, including aviation, marine and product liability and recall. 

Bakers 

Baker & McKenzie - with 4,500 lawyers - was the world’s largest law firm before Dentons Dacheng was created. It, however, is not a first tier insurance specialist.  It does not include insurance as one of its top dozen global specialisms - although it lists 41 partners who carry out insurance work - mostly divided between insurance litigation and insurance advisory. 

Hogan Lovells

While Hogan Lovells (with 220 insurance lawyers listed worldwide) comes far behind Clyde & Co in terms of overall numbers, it beat Clyde in the Who’s Who Legal analysis of the insurance and reinsurance sectors for 2014. Hogan Lovells received mentions for 22 practitioners, pushing Clyde (19) into second place. Norton Rose Fulbright (13) was third, followed by DLA Piper (10). 

Mergers

Future rankings will, clearly, be markedly changed by law firm mergers. Clyde & Co, for instance, has a relatively small number - 200 - of its insurance lawyers located in North and South America. This is an obvious area for growth or merger. And, going in the other direction, some of the top US insurance specialists - including Edwards Wildman Palmer and Sidley Austin - are now expanding outside their domestic market. 

Sources: Dagong: China’s Insurance Market, Legal 500 US, Who's Who Legal