The partners of two law firms — one with offices in China and the other with offices in Denver and several other U.S. cities — have agreed to a merger that will yet-again create the world’s largest law practice, now consisting of about 6,600 lawyers and professionals.
Law firm Dentons US, which earlier had merged with Chinese powerhouse Dacheng, announced it will merge with McKenna Long & Aldridge, creating a company that focuses on a vast array of specialties ranging from real estate to government policy and contracts to natural resources and energy.
The merger appears coincidental to the relocation of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office to Denver from Kansas City, Mo. The new office is expected to open April 20.
McKenna Long’s offices in Denver — one of the few U.S. cities where Dentons doesn’t already have a presence — specializes in government contracts, but is expected to bolster its presence in the natural resources arena as a result of the merger, managing partner David Fine said.
“Denver is the Rocky Mountain regional center of commerce,” said Fine, who was Denver’s city attorney from 2007 through 2011
during Gov. John Hickenlooper’s tenure as mayor. “From Denver’s perspective, it’s interesting to have a significant tie-in to the largest law firm in the world. Not just that, but the global reach of the firm means Denver is surely growing in its outreach.”
The merger puts Dentons US in more than 50 countries and 21 cities across the U.S. The firm carries a punch — its stable of lawyers includes prominent former politicians, ambassadors and officials.
In addition to Fine, Denver’s McKenna Long office — it will be renamed Dentons US after the merger is finalized this year — includes former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs and former Colorado House Majority Leader Amy Stephens.
Dacheng is based in Beijing and carries more than 4,000 attorneys, making it one of the largest in the world. It merged with Dentons US in January.
That merger largely was precipitated by Chinese law that forbids foreign law firms from practicing law, relegating attorneys to advisers.
Officials with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office refused to comment Friday. An announcement on the Taiwan Embassy’s website said the move was “in accordance with instructions of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).”
“That is just super news and falls into our Asia strategy,” Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. CEO Tom Clark said. “Everybody in the middle of the country is trying to be global. There’s no great long-term sustainability for a market unless you are global, and there’s always a risk without a waterport.”
Clark noted that Taipei is Denver’s 11th-largest foreign market in terms of air travel, accounting for 7,259 unique passengers in 2014, up from 6,804 in 2013, he said.
David Migoya: dmigoya@denverpost.com, 303-954-1506 or
