Dentons’ Continental European arm is set to launch an Iran offering in association with local firm Arman Pirouzan Parvine Legal Institute.
APP is made up of 10 lawyers and is led by Iran and US-qualified partner, Navid Rahbar-Sato. The Tehran-based team will advise Dentons’ international clients on a broad range of legal issues including corporate, infrastructure, regulatory, capital markets, employment and litigation matters.
The planned launch by the legacy Salans business comes after CMS became the first international firm to open in Iran earlier this year after sanctions were lifted. Timing for Dentons’ launch is still to be confirmed.
In a statement Dentons said it had formed the association in response to increasing client demand for sanctions and investment advice relating to Iran from the hospitality, automotive, retail and energy sectors, Legal Week reported.
Tomasz Dąbrowski, chief executive of Dentons Europe, said: “Following the change in international sanctions involving Iran, many of our clients are either already present in Iran or exploring commercial opportunities there. We are committed to supporting our clients wherever they do business.”
Pirouzan Parvine, head of Dentons Europe’s Iran practice, added: “While our Iran team has been serving clients successfully ever since sanctions were eased, we now want to build momentum by establishing a closer relationship with a firm in Tehran.”
Only Dentons’ European business is entering into the association due to US and Canadian restrictions.
Earlier this month the firm’s continental European partners were asked to inject between €6m and €7m of additional capital into the business over the next two years.
The move, which follows a partner vote in favor of raising capital contributions last month, does not include the UK partnership or any other part of the verein-structured firm.
It will see European partners asked to pay up to an extra €100,000 each over a two-year period between 2017 and 2018.
Dentons is a multinational law firm and the world’s largest law firm by number of lawyers. It was founded in March 2013 by the merger of SNR Denton, Fraser Milner Casgrain and Salans. The combination between Dentons and Chinese law firm Dacheng announced in January 2015 created the world’s largest law firm by headcount. It has more than 136 offices across 50-plus countries, with approximately 7300 lawyers. Dentons continues to be ranked one of the world's top 20 Global Elite law firms by a survey of in-house counsel around the world.
