Dentons has absorbed Adelaide-based specialist commercial firm Fisher Jeffries, a South Australian member firm of Gadens' national practice.

All of Fisher Jeffries' 14 partners will join Dentons except for property and insolvency partner Anita Caruso. It is not known where Caruso, who has been with the firm since 2005, plans to go.

The entire team, which includes 70 lawyers and staff members, focuses on financial services, corporate, dispute resolution, construction and engineering, employment, manufacturing and real estate.

Fisher Jeffries is led by managing partner Karen Thomas. The additional 12 partners joining Dentons are: Susan Babidge, Alex Eyre, Vanessa Gore, Karen Guazzelli, Paul Griscti, Wendy Jones, Dean Kent, Stephen Lendrum, Nicholas Linke, James Marsh, Vince Mascolo and Fidelis McGarrigan.

Fisher Jeffries became a member firm of Gadens in 2004 and has been an associate firm of Dentons since 2016, when the global legal giant absorbed Gadens' offices in Sydney, Perth and Port Moresby.

Dentons Australia chief executive Ian Dardis said in a statement that clients will benefit from having a base in Adelaide, South Australia – the country's defence hub.

"Growth has been a strategic priority for the Australia region," Doug Stipanicev, Dentons' Australia chair, also said in the statement.

Dentons expanded into Australia in December 2016 by merging with three Gadens offices. But legacy Gadens' offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide, which operate as separate entities, were not part of the combination. Following the 2016 merger, the then-branches of Gadens in Brisbane and Adelaide formed associations with Dentons, while the Melbourne office remained independent.

Dentons then absorbed 17 financial services, real estate and corporate partners in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from legacy Australian firm DibbsBarker in May 2018. The deal gave Dentons a new Brisbane office.

In January, Dentons lost an eight-lawyer employment team, led by former national employment and safety head Mark Sant, an ex-Gadens partner, to HFW.

Meanwhile, Gadens will be left with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane; the Melbourne and Sydney offices are integrated while the Brisbane office operates as a separate entity. The firm has 42 partners in Melbourne, 13 in Sydney and 26 in Brisbane.

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