The tie-up between Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, and Amsterdam-based Boekel, means the new Dutch combine is better positioned to work on bigger deals, Wendela Raas, managing partner and head of the company’s Dutch real estate practice, told PropertyEU in an interview.
‘Real estate is becoming more international,’ she said. ‘Transaction work is increasingly cross-border in nature and we believe that trend will continue. The investor landscape will change a lot in the next few years.’
Earlier this month, Dentons announced that it had completed its merger with the Amsterdam-based firm which will operate from now on under the name Dentons Boekel. Boekel employs around 70 lawyers in the Netherlands.
Boekel’s existing clients will continue to receive the same personalised and practical advice they have come to expect from Boekel, while at the same time benefitting from Dentons’ unmatched global reach, Raas added. ‘We can do the same but more. What appeals to us in Dentons is that we can keep our own identity and remain a strong player in real estate. We are doing that in a combination which gives us strength in a lot of different jurisdictions.’
Largest real estate law firm in Europe
Commenting on the Dutch tie-up, Dentons’ global vice chair Evan Lazar said Boekel was now a Dutch law firm with branches around the world. ‘We prefer to combine with firms that are great in their own markets and to incorporate them in our global firm. We don’t ever send someone to go and plant a flag in a country and hire around them.’
Dentons is now the largest law firm specialising in real estate in Europe, he said, adding that the timing of the Boekel takeover was particularly opportune. ‘We’re seeing more and more portfolio transactions involving multiple assets and countries.’
The combined firm has specialisations in real estate development, joint ventures, M&A and finance among others, Lazar continued. 'Thanks to our local teams, we also know how to deal with the local courts. Our competitors can’t do that, be in and of the communities where we are active.’
No other international law firm has so many real estate partners in France, Lazar added. ‘We have seven partners in France and more than 25 real estate lawyers in Germany. We are also unmatched for our excellence in CEE. There are a lot of synergies with all our teams from Singapore and New York to Australia and Shanghai. It’s a great benefit to have teams all around the world.’
White spots in Europe
With the addition of the Amsterdam office, Dentons will have 26 offices in 18 countries across Europe and the largest property practice focusing on cross-border transactions on the Continent. Altogether Dentons now has 1,300 specialised real estate lawyers worldwide and 340 in Europe.
In total the firm has 7,800 lawyers globally and 940 in Europe.
In the last two years, Dentons has entered three new markets in Europe. The firm opened an office in Milan in October 2015, and another in Luxembourg and Rome last year. ‘We are now continuing the momentum with our combination in Amsterdam,' Tomasz Dabrowski, CEO for Dentons Europe, said at the announcement of the tie-up with Boekel.
In addition to Amsterdam and Luxembourg, Dentons has an office in Brussels, but Lazar conceded that the firm has limited real estate capabilities on the ground in the Belgian capital. ‘That said, the focus of our real estate team is on EU cross-border trade and there are not so many multi-country portfolios in Belgium.’
A more popular combination of a multi-country real estate portfolio is one involving assets in Spain, France, the Netherlands, Poland and possibly Italy, Lazar said. ‘But if a Belgian lawyer with a great practice wanted to join us, we would be open to discussion.’
Another region that is showing potential is the Nordics, Lazar said. ‘A lot of our clients are transacting there and are pushing us to go there. ‘We might look there at some point, but we’re not rushing anything.’
