Homegrown PJS Law joins Dentons, world’s largest law firm

Regina Jacinto-Barrientos —Contributed photo

Local law firm Puyat, Jacinto and Santos (PJS) Law has become part of the global network of Washington DC-based Dentons, the world’s largest law firm based on lawyer headcount, as part of joint efforts to step up service offerings here and abroad.

“This combination represents a significant milestone in our commitment to delivering the highest standards of legal excellence and service to our clients,” PJS Law CEO Regina Jacinto-Barrientos said in a statement.

PJS Law sees its reputation as a leading service provider in the Philippines and Dentons’ worldwide reach enabling them to help clients grow, protect, operate and finance their business in more than 160 locations in over 80 countries.

“We look forward to combining our local knowledge with unrivaled global insights, providing clients a broader range of expertise and resources here in the Philippines and around the world,” Barrientos added.

For his part, Dentons global CEO Elliott Portnoy said that the combination would enable both firms to meet the evolving and complex needs of clients.

“Our shared commitment to delivering exceptional client service as well as our mutual understanding that inclusion, diversity and equity belong at the heart of everything we do, have brought our two firms together,” Portnoy added.

The business combination —not a merger—came as a result of a longstanding relationship between the two firms.

Dentons’ “polycentric” model allows it to combine with firms in jurisdictions where other structures, involving foreign ownership and control over local lawyers, would not work. When a new firm combines with it, no one is dispatched from a foreign office to oversee the combination partner or to change its positioning in the market. While a merger means there is one surviving firm, in this case, PJS Law still exists and retains control of its local operations, finances and office leadership.

Following the union, PJS Law plans to further grow its manpower.

“We are constantly devising and crafting new models and solutions for our clients’ needs and requirements and now we are positioned to do this with the backing of the world’s largest global law firm,” PJS Law replied to a query from the Inquirer.

“Part of that shift will include growing our pool of talents and [having] preparations in place to rise with the tide.”

Today, PJS Law is a full-service law firm with 59 lawyers and professionals, led by a team of 20 partners, 60 percent of whom identify as women.

This combination follows Dentons’ similar deal with a law firm in India, Link Legal, in 2023, as well as the launch of the combination with Vietnamese law firm LuatViet in 2022. INQ