Dentons in talks to avoid multi-million pound Asia bill
Legal Week reports
April 21, 2004 at 08:03 PM
2 minute read
Denton Wilde Sapte is locked in talks with its Asia network to avoid being landed with a multi-million pound bill to execute its announced withdrawal from the region.
Senior finance partner and former international head Steve Blakely flew to Dentons' largest Asian office, in Hong Kong, last Saturday (17 April) to begin negotiations with staff and prospective future tenants.
The firm aims to have officially closed all four offices in the region by no later than 31 July after announcing the surprise decision earlier this month.
The 50-lawyer network – which covers offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing – was believed to be costing Dentons as much as £4m a year to maintain.
The projected savings, however, are unlikely to impact upon the firm's bottom line for several years with lease obligations and redundancy packages expected to hit profitability in the short term.
The firm has outstanding leases of varying lengths on each of its four Asia offices.
It is also understood that some of the firm's Hong Kong partners criticised the handling of the situation by Dentons' London-based board.
One partner told Legal Week:
"People feel let down and everyone is blaming everyone else. The fact of the matter is that we were competing with highly resourced global giants in a very tough market. That is a hard task and we did not pull it off."
A small number of senior staff – understood to include Singapore-based David Maroni, Tokyo-based Edward Heron and Tom Deegan in Hong Kong – are now preparing to relocate back to London. Respected Tokyo head Bill Bruinooge, meanwhile, is under-stood to be leaving the firm.
Dentons chief executive Virginia Glastonbury told Legal Week: "We have looked at various costs scenarios but the final amount of such costs will depend on a number of factors.
"We are actively discussing all such factors with those involved on the ground in Asia."
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