Legal Business

Old and new faces: Squire Sanders re-elects UK and US heads while Dentons appoints new chief executive

Squire Sanders has re-appointed Peter Crossley and Stephen Mahon to their respective European and firm-wide managing partner roles in a week that has also seen Dentons elect its Warsaw managing partner, Tomasz Dabrowski, as the new European chief executive seven months after its tripartite merger went live.

For Squire Sanders, the re-election of Crossley and Mahon, which were appointed by the firm’s UK and US LLP management committees, will see the duo undertake a further three-year term beginning 1 January 2014.

Having served two terms as legacy Hammonds’ managing partner, Crossley took up the role of European managing partner when the firm merged with US firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey in January 2011.

Prior to becoming managing partner in New York, M&A specialist Mahon has held a number of leadership positions at the top 100 US firm, including acting as a member of its management committee from 2004 to 2008, serving as global business practice leader, and acting as chair of the firm’s private equity practice group.

Meanwhile, Dentons’ new European chief Dabrowski is currently the firm’s co-chair of European corporate, head of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Warsaw managing partner. He succeeds outgoing head and former global managing partner of legacy firm Salans, Dariusz Olezczuk, whose term ends on 31 December.

Having joined legacy Salans in 1992, Oleszczuk was previously global managing partner of the now merged firm – a role he was elected to for three consecutive terms by the firm’s partnership since 2005 – prior to becoming the European chief executive of Dentons in March 2013, a firm statement said today (31 October).

Since the tripartite merger of SNR Denton, Salans and Fraser Milner Casgrain went live in March, the new entity has faced the occasional reverse, particularly within the European region where a 10-lawyer team led by high profile partner Joel Benjamin quit for CEE practice Kinstellar in September.

However, the firm’s expansion plans continue regardless, as more recently evidenced in the US, as it confirmed this week (30 October) that its proposed tie up with McKenna Long & Aldridge is set to go to a vote in November.

Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk