World’s largest law firm by size, Dentons, has elected Kate Barton from Big Four EY to serve as the firm’s next global chief executive.
Barton is set to join from EY, where she has been for 35-years of her career, serving in a variety of executive leadership roles in the US, most recently as global vice chair.
She will succeed Elliott Portnoy, the founding global CEO, who has served since 2013 following Salans, Fraser Milner Casgrain (FMC) and SNR Denton combining to create Dentons.
He has overseen significant growth as Dentons serves clients in 167 locations in 82 countries.
Barton will join Dentons in early September to begin a handover period with Portnoy, whose term ends on 9 November 2024, which she will start her new role on 10 November.
Barton has led multiple business units at EY, including CEO of tax, law, and people advisory services, which had a global workforce of 70,000 professionals and generated revenues in excess of $11 bn (£8.5bn).
Among other achievements, she helped to transform EY’s global tax practice through strategic investments in people, technology, global shared service centres, world-class methods and processes, and M&A activity.
The process to appoint the global CEO was led by Dentons’ global board talent and governance committee chair, Gerald Singham, with the support of the firm’s global board and global advisory committee.
The announcement noted that this process explored both internal and external candidates across all geographies.
Commenting on her new position, Barton said: “I have watched Dentons redefine the legal services landscape with its pioneering business strategy and client offerings.”
She explained that “under Elliott’s leadership, Dentons has differentiated itself with its polycentric approach and integrated cross-border and multidisciplinary client engagements, proving that uniting and operating as one firm is far more impactful.”
While Portnoy aded: “Kate has extensive experience in leading a complex and global professional service organisation and has an outstanding skillset in managing people, processes and systems.”
“Her successful client service experience, coupled with her thoughtful approach to integration, make her the ideal individual to lead our firm,” he added.