Global law firm Dentons announced on Wednesday that a former executive of auditing and consulting giant EY, Kate Barton, will join as its next CEO. Barton, who worked at EY for over 25 years and most recently served as its global vice chair, will start at Dentons in early September and assume the role of global CEO on Nov. 10, taking over from Elliott Portnoy.
Dentons, once the world’s largest law firm with over 12,000 lawyers, split last year with its Chinese unit Dacheng. The firms had combined in 2015, but Dentons cited new national security restrictions imposed by the Chinese government in August as making the arrangement untenable.
Barton expressed plans to expand the firm by adding lawyers to key markets where it already has offices. Her arrival will complete a leadership transition at Dentons that began in 2021, when the firm replaced the CEO of its U.S. branch and retired its global chairman role, previously held for a decade by former U.S. Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew. Portnoy mentioned that he is in “active discussions” with Dentons’ global board about his future plans after passing the CEO role to Barton in November.
Barton left her position at EY in June 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile. EY, which last year had more than 395,000 employees spread across 700 offices in 150 countries, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, Portnoy told Reuters that his successor would be “all in” on Dentons’ growth strategy of combining with other law firms worldwide. The 5,900-lawyer firm employs a Swiss verein business structure that allows its international branches to operate under a shared banner as largely separate legal entities.
Dentons has aggressively expanded its presence in the United States in recent years by combining with smaller regional U.S. firms, although it has not announced a new U.S. combination since June 2021. Portnoy described the firm’s U.S. expansion strategy as a success but did not comment on whether it had changed.
