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Dentons announces combination with Sirote – a leading law firm in Alabama

Posted: 5th January 2021

Dentons announces combination with Sirote – a leading law firm in Alabama

In 2020, Dentons has announced 33 new offices

The combination will position the combined firm as the first global law firm in Alabama, and continues the momentum of Project Golden Spike, helping clients navigate the New Dynamic across the US

On the heels of Dentons’ recent announcement of its future combination with Iowa’s Davis Brown, Dentons and leading Alabama law firm, Sirote & Permutt (“Sirote”), announced today a future combination. In the midst of a global pandemic and economic crisis, Dentons has announced 33 new offices around the world in an environment where other law firms are standing still, contracting or withdrawing from key markets.

The combination will be the fifth combination as part of Project Golden Spike, a series of combinations dedicated to advancing the first truly national US law firm capable of helping clients navigate the New Dynamic across the US and in 77 countries around the world.

“In the New Dynamic our clients are confronted with constant, accelerated change and want to work with a law firm that has the experience and confidence to help them navigate it wherever they are located,” said Joe Andrew, Global Chairman of Dentons. “Sirote is a leading law firm in Alabama—where the legal spend exceeds the entire country of India—and our combination not only positions us as the first global law firm in the state but also marks our fifth Golden Spike combination and gets us one step closer to becoming the first truly national US law firm.”

“We are delighted to be combining with Sirote in Alabama, a key and growing market for our clients,” said Elliott Portnoy, Global CEO of Dentons. “Like Dentons, Sirote is committed to inclusion and diversity, its lawyers are repeatedly recognized for the quality of their legal services and our combination means we can connect clients to leading talent in Alabama and in 77 countries around the world.”

Sirote was founded on a simple philosophy: to deliver excellent legal services on a timely basis at a fair price. For more than seventy years, Sirote’s lawyers have maintained an uncompromising commitment to fulfilling this promise for every client that the firm has the privilege to serve. While the firm now represents a more expansive list of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to family-owned businesses and high net worth individuals, the firm’s commitment to delivering an excellent work product in a timely manner at a fair price remains unchanged. As a full-service law firm with five offices—in Birmingham, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, the Shoals and Mobile—Sirote’s 86 lawyers collaborate across offices and practices to deliver outcomes and solutions to clients from diverse industries.

Its lawyers, repeatedly recognized by the likes of Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, have deep experience across 11 discrete practice areas—Alternative Dispute Resolution; Banking and Finance; Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights; Corporate and Securities; Government Contracts; Health Care; Litigation; Private Clients, Trusts and Estates; Real Estate; Tax; and Tax Controversy. 27 Sirote lawyers also have LLMs in Taxation and International Law.

Like Dentons, Sirote has made diversity and inclusion in the workplace a key pillar of the firm since opening its doors almost 75 years ago. In 1978 the firm hired its first female lawyer who subsequently became one of Alabama’s first female law firm partners. A few years later, Sirote became the first major law firm in Alabama to welcome an African American partner. Today, Sirote’s professionals are actively involved in community organizations and initiatives that promote understanding and cultivate unity.

Through the combination, both Sirote and Dentons will enhance the depth and breadth of services available to clients among highly regarded practices including in the Corporate, Real Estate, Tax, and Trusts/Estates practices, among others.

“We are delighted to be combining with Dentons, a firm that shares our common zeal for providing superior service to clients, now and in the future,” said Todd Carlisle, President of Sirote. “By joining Dentons through the Golden Spike model, our clients will continue to work with the Sirote lawyers they know and trust, as well as having access to additional talent and innovative solutions to help them achieve their objectives in a rapidly evolving business climate.”

Building on Dentons’ global polycentric model, Project Golden Spike increases the quality and breadth of service to clients on a national and global scale, while also enabling US legal practices like Sirote to retain their defining characteristics and provide in and of the community insight wherever clients need it.

“2020 has shown that we are in a time of accelerated change and law firms, more than ever before, need to transform to continue to meet the dynamic needs of clients,” said Toby McClamroch, Managing Partner of Dentons United States Region. “Across the US, law firms continue to see the benefits of our Golden Spike model and the combination with Sirote—our fifth Golden Spike combination—continues our trajectory to better serve our clients’ needs across the 100 largest legal markets in the US.”

At launch of the combination with what will be known as Dentons Sirote, Dentons will extend its reach to 198 locations—with 44 in the US—in 77 countries.

In 2020 to date, Dentons has announced 33 new offices. In addition to the future combination with Sirote, Dentons announced a future combination with Davis Brown as part of Project Golden Spike and Dentons’ partners approved a combination with leading Tanzanian law firm, East African Law Chambers (EALC), as part of its strategy to become the leading Pan-African law firm owned and controlled by Africans. Dentons has also launched nine combinations:

  • Dentons Bingham Greenebaum and Dentons Cohen & Grigsby, the founding members with Dentons US of Project Golden Spike;
  • Dentons Kensington Swan in New Zealand;
  • Dentons Lee in South Korea;
  • Dentons Jiménez de Aréchaga in Uruguay;
  • Dentons Rattagan Macchiavello Arocena in Argentina;
  • Dentons LEAD in Angola;
  • Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar in the US- – as part of Project Golden Spike; and
  • Dentons Eric Silwamba Jalasi & Linyama in Zambia.

Dentons has also opened offices in the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Ireland, Colombia, and China.

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