Norton Rose expands executive as merger with Canada's Ogilvy and Deneys Reitz of South Africa goes live

Norton Rose has overhauled its management teams in the wake of the three-way merger with Canada's Ogilvy Renault and South Africa's Deneys Reitz, which went live last week (1 June).

The combined firm has added eight new positions to the Norton Rose Group supervisory board, with three new partners joining the firm's executive committee (excom).

In Canada, the local firm (now known as Norton Rose OR) senior partner Michael Lang and managing partner John Coleman have both joined excom, which is the firm's primary management body, along with Norton Rose South Africa managing director Rob Otty. The new additions take the committee to 11 members, including chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured).

Meanwhile, the supervisory board, led by group chairman Stephen Parish, gains three new members from Norton Rose OR, one from South Africa and one from Australia, with three additional members joining from Norton Rose LLP – two in London and one in Singapore.

News of the changes to the firm's governance teams comes after Norton Rose announced in November last year that it was to launch in Canada and South Africa through local tie-ups. Including the Canadian and South African firms, the enlarged Norton Rose Group has around 2,600 lawyers, including 795 partners, across 39 offices – making it one of the 10 largest law firms in the world by headcount.

The three firms were in discussions for around a year before signing the deal, which came only 11 months after Norton Rose added the first part of its Swiss verein-style group structure in January 2010, when Australia's Deacons became Norton Rose Australia.

Martyr commented: "The process to complete the merger has been hugely complex but has gone very well, with people working fantastically hard. The most important thing for us has been the reception from clients, which has been hugely positive."

With Canada, Australia and South Africa dealt with, Norton Rose is still targeting a US merger as one of the next major steps in its expansion agenda.

However, Martyr said a US deal was unlikely within the next two years.

He added: "There will be no US merger this year. We have been very open about the fact that the States has to be a key point on our agenda but we have put in place a two to five-year time frame to conclude the strategy."

As well as overhauling its governance team, Norton Rose has also appointed Toronto-based intellectual property partner Patrick Kierans to head its new life sciences group, which became one of the firm's 'headlights' sector groups when the merger went live.

The sector group has become the sixth headlight for the firm, alongside financial institutions, transport, energy, infrastructure and technology.

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Norton Rose Group – 
the expanded governance team

Excom

Peter Martyr – chief executive
Don Boyd – group deputy chief executive, Australia
Kevin Mortell – group chief operating officer, London
Deirdre Walker – London
Jeremy Edwards – London
Tim Marsden – London
David Stannard – Asia
Liz Hallett – Australia
John Coleman – Canada (new)
Rob Otty – South Africa (new)
Michael Lang – Canada (new)

Group supervisory board

Stephen Parish – group chairman
Cameron Harvey – Norton Rose Australia
Louise Higginbottom – Norton Rose LLP
Raj Karia – Norton Rose LLP
Chris McLeod – Norton Rose Australia
Pierre Bienvenu – Norton Rose OR (new)
Jill Gauntlett – Norton Rose LLP Singapore (new)
Michael Hart – Norton Rose South Africa (new)
Mark Jones – Norton Rose LLP London (new)
Sally Macindoe – Norton Rose Australia (new)
Norman Steinberg – Norton Rose OR (new)
Tom Vita – Norton Rose LLP London (new)
Ava Yaskiel – Norton Rose 
OR (new)