Denton Wilde Sapte's tie-up with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal was confirmed after partners were asked to express their support at an open meeting, it has emerged.

The voting process at Dentons saw partners asked to indicate their support by raising their hands at a meeting in London, with 156 out of 158 voting in favour. Seventy-three partners voted via proxy, while two partners were absent and had not appointed a proxy.

In the US, Sonnenschein held an open ballot via telephone conference between offices. The vote, which received unanimous support, was taken solely among the firm's equity partners, in contrast to Dentons, which included junior partners.

The SNR Denton voting process differed from the system used by Lovells when the legacy UK firm confirmed its merger with Hogan & Hartson last year. The decision, which created global top 10 firm Hogan Lovells, was taken via an anonymous closed electronic vote.

Hogan Lovells co-chair John Young said: "Our system is that all of these types of votes have been via secret ballot. We have an electronic voting system where partners vote via email and the results are counted anonymously.

"The obvious issue with having an open vote is whether partners would feel peer pressure to support a deal. Different firms do things differently but we find this system is most efficient and I would expect that Hogan Lovells will use it going forward."

Dentons chief executive Howard Morris (pictured) said: "It would be a bit odd to have closed voting in a partnership. No-one requested a closed vote so it was all done openly. I think that when you are in a partnership you should know what your partners think."

SNR Denton is scheduled to go live on 30 September, with the two firms now working to integrate their practice groups and set up an internal infrastructure, including email systems and a combined website.

Denton Wilde Sapte on the Legal Week Wiki