Denton Wilde Sapte

This article is about Denton Wilde Sapte prior to its September 2010 merger with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. For the successor firm, see SNR Denton

Denton Wilde Sapte LLP
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
No. of offices	12 (plus 4 associate offices)
No. of lawyers	600+
Major practice areas	General practice
Revenue	£169.8m (2008/9)[1]
Date founded	1 February 2000 (London)
Company type	Limited liability partnership

Denton Wilde Sapte LLP (informally Dentons) was an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 26 May 2010, the firm announced that it had reached agreement to merge with the U.S.-based law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. The merger was completed in September 2010, forming SNR Denton.

At the time of its merger with Sonnenschein, Denton Wilde Sapte employed over 600 lawyers and had 16 offices spanning four regions:

Europe: Istanbul, London, Milton Keynes, Paris. Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Amman (associate firm), Doha, Dubai, Kuwait (associate firm), Muscat, Riyadh (associate firm). CIS: Almaty, Ashgabat (associate firm), Moscow, St Petersburg (associate firm), Tashkent. South East Asia: Singapore. Africa: In addition to the Cairo office, Denton Wilde Sapte also operated an associate network of local firms in Algeria, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

History

The firm was created on February 1, 2000 by a merger between City of London law firms Denton Hall and Wilde Sapte which created (at the time) the UK's 11th largest law firm measured by revenues. Denton Hall Burgin was established in 1788 by Sam Denton. Thomas Wilde founded what was to become Wilde Sapte with partner Samuel Archer Hussey in 1785.

In September 1988 Anthony Alexander, the Senior Partner of City law firm Herbert Oppenheimer Nathan & Vanayk, joined Denton Hall Burgin & Warren along with 17 partners and 62 other lawyers. With other partners deserting the firm in droves, Herbert Oppenheimer Nathan & Vanayk dissolved shortly afterwards. Denton Hall was a co-founder of the international alliance of law firms, Denton International, which dissolved on December 31, 2003.

Denton Wilde Sapte's focus on emerging market locations enabled it to become one of the largest law firm in the Middle East, the biggest international firm in Central Asia, and one of very few international law firms in Cairo, Istanbul, Kuwait and Muscat. Its Cairo and Dubai offices were two of the longest running practices in the region, having been established in 1964 and 1969 respectively. The Abu Dhabi and Muscat offices followed in 1981, and at the time of its merger with Sonnenschein its Middle East network comprised eight offices. The firm converted from a partnership to a limited liability partnership on November 1, 2006.

Main practice areas

Denton Wilde Sapte's main practice areas included:

• Energy, transport and infrastructure;
• Financial institutions;
• Real estate and retail;
• Technology, media and telecoms.

See also

• List of law firms
• List of largest European law firms
• List of largest UK law firms

References

1. ^ Press release: Denton Wilde Sapte maintains revenue growth in FY09 figures 04 June 2009