Dentons aims to double the revenue generated by its UK corporate practice within five years.

Renowned for its global expansion, Dentons is now looking to improve in the underweight, UK practice area, according to its new corporate chief David Collins.

"Given the overall size of Dentons globally, UK corporate ought to be bigger due to the importance of the jurisdiction as a leading global financial centre," he says. "Over the next three to five years, the aim is to double the UK corporate practice's revenue."

Collins says the corporate practice currently accounts for 12% of UK revenue but that he wants to raise this to 20-25% in the next five years.

Dentons declined to provide a figure for UK corporate or total UK revenue. But revenue at Dentons' UK, Middle East and Africa (UKMEA) arm increased by 6% for the 2014-15 financial year from £148m to £157m.

Collins stepped into the role of UK corporate head in January after leading Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) corporate practice for two and half years. He left BLP in October last year a few months after he was bested in BLP's managing partner election in February by employment head Lisa Mayhew.

Collins replaces Richard Barham who led the practice for four years and has returned to working full-time as a partner in the City corporate practice.

Departing BLP before the news broke that it had set its sights on a merger with US firm Greenberg Traurig, Collins said his new role offers him an opportunity to build a corporate practice "on a much larger and more international scale".

"Dentons does a lot of cross border M&A deals and has a strong reputation in that area, but it is not as well-known as it should be in the City or the wider UK corporate market."

He says the firm is now "in a different peer group" following its international expansion, most notably its merger with Chinese firm Dacheng to create 6,600 lawyer firm, overtaking rival Baker & McKenzie to become the world's largest firm by lawyer-count. He says: "We are now also being invited to pitch for global panel and international counsel roles alongside firms like Norton Rose Fulbright, DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie."

Currently, key corporate clients include French oil company Total, oil and gas company L1 Energy controlled by the Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, British venture capital group Virgin and UK construction business Kier Group.

However, Dentons' corporate practice in the UK remains less prominent than in other regions, in part due to its history. Following its merger in 2013 with French firm Salans, much of the work of the UK corporate practice involved deals in mainland and Eastern Europe, says Collins.

But he adds he wants Dentons corporate practice to be "a brand that strongly resonates in both the UK and cross-border corporate markets".

To do this, Collins plans to capitalise on referral work from across the firm's global network.

"We continue to see an increase in corporate opportunities from other regions. For example, UK corporate has already had several M&A referrals through the Dacheng relationship."

In addition, Collins is aiming to deepen the practice's sector focus. For example, he plans to invest in building the firm's corporate real estate team because the practice is "an area which offers significant potential for the firm and where UK corporate would benefit from some additional investment".

He concludes: "I want to ensure that we are joined up across other parts of the firm in terms of sector focus – I would not want us to consider corporate in isolation."