When I had a video call with Dentons’ new chief executive last week she said something I didn’t expect.
Bear in mind that Dentons has been the poster child of law firm growth over the last decade. Under the tenure of outgoing CEO Elliott Portnoy the firm has become one of the biggest in the world by number of lawyers, at nearly 6,000, and number of countries in which it operates, which now totals 82.
The firm may not be the largest by revenue—though it is in the upper tier—but the very name has come to epitomise a sheer scale that few others can contend with.
So how does EY’s global vice chair Kate Barton feel about coming in to lead such a large law firm? Is there any sense of trepidation?
Little did I realise that in many ways this is a step down for Barton. Having previously led EY’s tax unit, which has revenues of around $12 billion, and working at a very senior level of a $50 billion-plus business, Dentons is a relative minnow.
But her comfortable dismissal of that question was not what surprised me...
